Holy See addresses Meeting on minority education rights
(Vatican Radio) The Permanent Representative of the Holy See to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Msgr. Janusz S. Urba?czyk, addressed the Organization’s High Level Meeting on the 20th Anniversary of the Hague Recommendations on the Education Rights of National Minorities, taking place Wednesday and Thursday of this week in Geneva.
Below, please find the official English version of his prepared remarks
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Mr. Chairman,
The Holy See takes this opportunity to reiterate its gratitude to the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities for her role in providing early warnings and, as appropriate, early action in relation to tensions involving national minority issues that have conflict potential within the OSCE area.
We are gathered here today to reflect on the Hague Recommendations which were not intended to be comprehensive but to serve as a general framework whose goal was to “assist States in the process of minority education policy development”.
At this point in human history, when various negative forces threaten the legitimate aspirations for peaceful co-existence that exist in many regions of the world, my Delegation would like to use this opportunity to explore the responsibility shared by all participating States, as well as by civil society, in doing everything possible to educate their people, especially the young, so that they become peace-makers and promoters of true tolerance and nondiscrimination.
The Holy See wishes to underline the importance of the religious identity of national minorities. It has a distinctive duty to insist on the role of religion, not for purely partisan reasons nor because it is uninterested in other aspects of the issue, but because it feels that religion has left, and continues to leave, a mark in the history, identity, culture and social life of our societies and communities.
Education, especially at school, plays a great role in the promotion of religious tolerance and non-discrimination because it addresses the roots of the phenomenon. Mingling with students who belong to different religions is in itself a great help to understand the unity of mankind. Moreover, it is important that schools teach about different religions and allow each student to manifest and express plainly and openly her or his belief. Knowledge about the other’s religion can reduce harmful misunderstandings and stereotypes.
Educational programmes should be developed and strengthened in order to promote a better understanding and respect for different cultures, ethnicities and religions. These programmes should also hand on some paramount values like the dignity of every person and the solidarity amon g peoples. Education in respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is no less important, both for students at all levels, as well as for students attending military, police and public service schools.
According to the indivisibility, interdependence and interrelation of human dimension commitments, in developing and implementing these programmes, participating States should always respect the right of parents to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions, a right that is enshrined in both the International Covenants on Human Rights as well as in the OSCE commitments.
In this regard, it should be noted that such parental right s do not imply only the right of parents to choose their children’s schools, other than those established by public authorities, or the rights to establish and manage alternative educational institutions; it also requires States to ensure that instruction in public schools does not pursue an aim of indoctrination and to ensure that children are not forced to attend lessons that are inconsistent with the convictions of their parents.
Many States, in fact, provide – or intend to provide – in public schools, compulsory classes on ethical or religious subjects. Such instruction is appreciated but it should be borne in mind that States cannot pursue an aim of indoctrination and that children shouldn’t be forced to participate in courses that are not consistent with the convictions of their parents. Therefore, it is preferable that such teachings be facultative, and, when they are compulsory, participating States should provide non-punitive and non-discriminatory opt-out possibilities.
In the Catholic Church’s view, all people of whatever race, nation, religion, sex or age, in virtue of their dignity as human persons, have an inalienable right to education. This education should be suitable to the particular destiny of the individual person, and should be conducive to fraternal relations within diverse societies in order to build stable multi-ethnic societies and promote true unity and peace between the countries of the OSCE region.
Children and young people who are molded by an education oriented towards respect for national and religious minorities today, will be the building blocks on which the society of tomorrow can be constructed. But in order to reach that goal, there is a long way to go, since building a just and peaceful society: “requires a wholehearted commitment to eliminate not only evident discrimination but also all barriers that divide groups…The increased awareness… regarding the situation of minority groups constitutes for our own times a hopeful sign for the coming generations and for the aspirations of minority groups themselves… respect for minorities is to be considered the touchstone of social harmony and the index of the civic maturity attained by a country and its institutions”.
Finally, my Delegation is confident that, through the commitments of the OSCE and the efforts of its High Commissioner on National Minorities, participating States will make progress in ensuring that national minorities enjoy a quality education that will be a helpful tool in preventing conflicts, by inculcating values of tolerance, pluralism, respect and international and intercommunal harmony, capable of preserving regional peace and security.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.