Dr' Jonathan Gallagher

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Why are we at the UN?

• Dr. Jonathan Gallagher
• UN Liaison Director, General Conference

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United Nations

• Foremost international organization
• Rights-based charter
• History of support for human rights
• Documents on human rights
• Mechanisms for implementation (CHR)
• Wide range of practical impact/issues
• Issues of politicization

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Church representation at UN

• ECOSOC representation since 1985
• Participation at UN meetings
• Commission of Human Rights
• UN NGO committee on Religion/Belief
• Direct contact with ambassadors
• Contribution to UN special rapporteurs
• Lobbying for items of concern
• Information from UN to church

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UN General Assembly, New York
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UN Commission of Human Rights, Geneva
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History of church involvement at significant
world organizations

• Representation to US Congress 1890s
• Testimony to League of Nations 1930s
• Involvement in 1981 UN Declaration
• Statements to UN Commissions
• Contributions to UN Committees
• Experts on UN Working groups

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Why work at the UN?

• Provides us with a unique opportunity to speak
  with high-level diplomats and international
  leaders
• Enables us to share our message/ mission,
  encourage religious freedom and protest
  violations of human rights
• Gives us a voice in decisions that affect the
  whole world and helps us understand issues

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UN Ambassadors
Costa Rica
Togo
Australia
Tanzania
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Assistant US Secretary of State Lorne Kraner
US Congressman Christopher Smith (center)
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The first student interns Samantha and Matt Mills
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Student interns and coordinator at the UN office
in New York
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Students from the Adventist College in France
visit the UN in Geneva
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The Adventist Office of United Nations Liaison

• is located at the Seventh-day Adventist Church
  world headquarters and operates as part of the
  department of Public Affairs and Religious
  Liberty. Its mandate is to provide a channel of
  communication and influence at the United
  Nations, working with the main organization and
  it 48 different subsidiaries such as the World
  Health Organization, the High Commission for
  Human Rights, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNCTAD, and many
  more.

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Working with the High Commissioner for Human
Rights
Former High Commissioner Mary Robinson
Current High Commissioner Louise Arbour
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Public forums UN Association of Cuba
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Pursuing the legal route

• Religious freedom experts outside the Supreme
  Court in Washington, D.C

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Issues of public protest
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Appealing to the highest level
Meeting the President of the Philippines Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo
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Using media opportunities

• Interview with Mr. Rafik Aliev, head of
  Religious Affairs Committee, Azerbaijan

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Using contacts

• UN special rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or
  Belief Prof. Abdelfattah Amor made much use of
  reports provided by the Adventist church on
  religious freedom violations

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Helping members facing oppression
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Working for those victimized

• Adventists need to be known as people who give a
  voice to the voiceless, who defend the
  defenseless, who stand for truth though the
  heavens fall.

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Tyranny of imposed religion

• God never forces the will or the conscience but
  Satan's constant resortto gain control of those
  whom he cannot otherwise seduceis compulsion by
  cruelty. Through fear or force he endeavors to
  rule the conscience and to secure homage to
  himself. To accomplish this, he works through
  both religious and secular authorities, moving
  them to the enforcement of human laws in defiance
  of the law of God. Ellen White, Great
  Controversy, p.591.

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Disarming prejudice

• It is our duty to do all in our power to avert
  the threatened danger. We should endeavor to
  disarm prejudice by placing ourselves in a proper
  light before the people. We should bring before
  them the real question at issue, thus interposing
  the most effectual protest against measures to
  restrict liberty of conscience. Ellen White,
  Testimonies, vol. 5 p. 452.

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Bridge builders in the religious community

• Adventists are to build bridges, keeping their
  principles, yet seeking to work with and for all
  of good faith

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Case studies

• Uganda/Nigeria sabbath problems
• French religious symbols law
• Turkmenistan persecution
• Indonesia inter-religious warfare
• Saudi Arabia zero religious freedom
• North Korea systematic eradication of religion
• Sri Lanka/India anti-conversion laws
• Azerbaijan church closures, exile of pastors
• Eritrea banning of churches
• Belarus church burnings

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Religious freedomjust for us?

• We promote, protect, and defend the religious
  freedom of all people everywhere

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Banner of truth and religious liberty

• The banner of truth and religious liberty held
  aloft by the founders of the gospel church and by
  God's witnesses during the centuries that have
  passed since then, has, in this last conflict,
  been committed to our hands. Ellen White, Acts of
  the Apostles, pp. 68-9.