On 30 October 2026, the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) submitted a contribution to the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, responding to a consultation on the mandate’s strategic priorities for 2026–2029.
Entitled Freedom within religion: conscience, dissent and pluralism, the submission argues that freedom of expression must protect people who question religious authority and established interpretations, including those who wish to remain within their religious traditions.
For IARF, religious freedom is not only a matter of protecting communities from outside interference. It also concerns the freedom of individuals to inquire, disagree, reinterpret traditions and advocate change from within.
Protecting conscience and dissent
The submission highlights laws criminalising religious criticism, threats against inclusive and reforming religious communities, and online harassment that can expose dissenters to danger. Drawing on examples from Pakistan, Poland, Russia and Germany, it calls for particular attention to people whose voices can be overlooked when established religious leaders are treated as the sole representatives of their communities, including women and girls, young people and LGBT+ believers.
IARF also recognises the legitimate autonomy of religious communities over doctrine, worship and voluntary association. Protecting freedom within religion does not mean asking governments to decide theological questions. It means ensuring that religious authority cannot become a justification for coercion or state-enforced orthodoxy.
Recommendations for the UN mandate
IARF proposes closer cooperation between relevant UN human rights mandates, practical guidance on conflicts involving religious expression, sustained attention to individual cases and investigation of digital threats and censorship. It also encourages meaningful participation by independent and reforming communities in developing recommendations.
At the heart of the contribution is a principle central to IARF’s longstanding commitment to religious freedom: people should be free to follow their conscience, question inherited interpretations and seek change without fear of persecution or coercion.
Read the full submission
Freedom within religion: conscience, dissent and pluralism (PDF, October 2026, 7 pages).
Featured image: Flag avenue at the Palais des Nations, Geneva. Photograph by TomIsNotResponding, Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0. Cropped for display.
