It is without doubt that the freedom of religion constitutes a pillar of human rights. It has been stated in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (Art. 9.1) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Art. 18). The practice shows however that the persecution on the grounds of religion or belief is still present worldwide. According to the statistics at least 75% of religious persecution is directed against people of Christian faith and each year about 170,000 Christians suffer because of their beliefs. The total number of faithful who are discriminated amounts already to 100 million. It's also a known fact that more Christians have been martyred in the 20th century than in all the prior 1,900 years. All in all it makes Christians the most persecuted religious group.

Persecution may include also obstacles to the proclamation of faith, confiscation and destruction of places of worship or prohibition of religious training and education.

Restrictions on religion touch over half of the countries and these contain more than 80% of the global population. Interestingly the problem is present worldwide, irrespective of the country, its cultural background or political regime. Naturally the democratic regimes shall have fewer tendencies for violations of religious freedom. Christians suffer because of radical Islam, sometimes Hinduism or atheistic communism.
Of course, the situation differs from country to country. First of all we have to distinguish between the state hostility towards religious minorities and social aversion, which the governments simply do not know how to handle.

During the conference which I have recently organised together with Mr Mario Mauro MEP on this topic, we have listened to the witnesses of persecution representing various cultures and backgrounds. They have given very concrete examples of the tragic situation in their respective countries.

Our guest from Iraq, Mgr Louis Sako, has presented the situation of Christians there, in a country with an Islamic majority. He expressed great concern about the future existence of Christian minority in Iraq as its number continues to diminish. It is due to the different forms of discrimination against this minority. There have been alarming numbers of religiously motivated killings, beatings, rapes, forced conversions, marriages, and displacement from homes and businesses. At the same time, being Iraqi himself he underlined a strong belief in the diplomatic means to bring back the freedom of religion in his country. There is an urgent need for fostering reconciliation among Iraqis, for promotion of human rights in that area and asking the governments to respect the rules.

Another guest, Mr Kok Ksor has spoken on the behalf of the Montagnard people living in Vietnam. This Christian community endures strong pressures and infringements of their rights from the Vietnamese communist government. The pictures he described were horrifying, but again these people do not want to resort to other than peaceful means.

They do not want to leave their country either. Up to the present time though, the Vietnamese government have continued to attack their villages, arrested, tortured or sent them to prisons. There is an open fight of the communist party with the Christian belief. Still there is hope that the international community can exercise its influence to improve the situation in Vietnam.

A situation of the Christian minority is nearly the same difficult in India, the largest world democracy, where Christians constitute only 2.34% of the population, as Dr T.M. Joseph has presented at our conference. Unfortunately Christians have become a target of the dominant community, especially in the province inhabited by their majority, Orissa. There have been many radical incidents of physical violence noted in the last years.

As a fruit of the mentioned conference, a written declaration on religious freedom is signed by the members of all four biggest Parliamentary political groups and hopefully adopted soon by the majority of the House. Among others this declaration "calls on the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to incorporate the subject of religious freedom into European external policies".

Is it enough however how the EU tackles the co-responsibility for the protection of religious freedom in the world? Taking into account all the possible political and financial instruments that the EU institutions have in their possession, we must admit that the EU lips are still sealed.
Human rights always find their expression in a practical dimension. Religious freedom, defence from the persecutions, especially against Christians, is not a result of any political preference. It is a demand of the moment coming from a situational analysis in concrete political circumstances.

The European Union possesses many instruments to improve the situation of the persecuted Christians or other religious minorities in the world. First of all, the emerging EU diplomacy shall react on every incident of intolerance on that ground. Secondly, all of the countries, which practice the politics of religious oppression, or which do not successfully oppose the persecutions, develop political and economic relations with the EU. Vietnam, Iraq or India shall become more and more important partners for the Union. This partnership however should be conditioned upon the guarantees of respect for the rights of the religious minorities, especially of the persecuted, in many different ways, Christians.

Many countries such as Algeria or Russia are our partners in the Neighbourhood policy. This could be used as another instrument of influence.

European silence on the problems of religious freedom undermines our credibility in the area of human rights in the world. We have a clear obligation in this field and nothing can excuse us from a reaction to the mass martyrdom of Christians, which we witness in XX and XXI centuries.

Konrad Szymański is a member of the European Parliament from Poland, in the European Conservatives and Reformists Group