| • | art. 49 and 50 of Federal Constitution |
| • | art. 303 of Civilian code |
| • | art. 9 European Convention of Human Rights |
| • | rt. 18 Pact II, Declaration of the United Nations on the elimination of all forms of intolerance and discrimination based on religion |
| • | Human Rights declaration of the United Nations of 1948 |
| • | International Charter on the Rights of Children |
| • | art. 164 of the Constitution of Geneva which in fact only guarantees freedom of worship |
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Religious freedom and the rights of the individual - charter of
good conduct
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In subscribing to the present Charter, the signatories wish to
communicate their willingness to contribute to respectful coexistence
with freedom for all and with the right to moral integ-rity for
all. They commit themselves to correct all abuse that would objectively
harm the rights of the individual. They wish to develop trust amongst
social actors within the frame-work of their institutions and the
laws of a State guaranteeing equality of treatment for all its people. Article 1. Religious freedom is a necessary condition
of democratic life. Modern rights, both na-tional and international,
elevated it to the rank of a fundamental freedom (ref).
Freedom of conscience and religion is essential to any true personal or collective spiritual endeavor. Any religious group - old or new, major or minor, institutional or otherwise - has a right to this freedom as well as a duty to respect it. Article 2. Freedom of conscience and religion gives
everyone the right to believe, not believe or to change faith, as
well as the right to express, practise and reveal one's personal
convic-tions. It guarantees everyone the right to orient one's conduct
and way of acting accord-ing to the teachings and prescriptions
of one's religious conviction, that is: "any form of representation
linked to the relationship that humans have with the divine, respectively
the transcendental" (ref)
Article 3. Individual freedom has its limits in the
freedom of others, thus a religiously polyvalent society must guarantee
religious peace. It is the responsibility of public powers, civil
so-ciety, traditional religious communities as well as those more
recently created to find a modus vivendi that will permit justice
and set aside discrimination.
Article 4. The facilitation of such a coexistence shall
be provided by the institutions of the secular state, which refraining
from all forms of segregation on religious matters, should guaran-tee
equity in the treatment of all those belonging to a religious community,
as well as those not belonging to any religious community. The religious
neutrality of the State of-fers believers, whoever they be, the
possibility to practise their faith within society re-specting good
morality and public order.
Article 5. Belonging to a religious group gives direction
to human existence and may help it flour-ish, yet it can lead to
abuses and perversions that may harm human dignity. For these reasons
the present "Charter of Good Conduct" can be applied to
individual, collective, social and inter-religious relationships.
Article 6. Any individual can freely join or leave
the religious group of his/her choice. None shall endure damage
to personality particularly discrimination in matters of employment
by reason of religious faith. None shall be harassed for their convictions
but shall be respon-sible for words and acts in relation to the
system of laws. Public powers shall refrain from any meddling in
the spiritual choices of a person. On the other hand, religious
leaders should ensure the freedom of all new members and refrain
from intimidation of those who wish to leave their community, particularly
minors and vulnerable persons.
Article 7. Any faith or religious group has the right
to collectively express its beliefs through wor-ship and private
or public activities within the limits of public order and the respect
of the common good. Any religious creed can freely disseminate its
vision of the world without having to endure discriminatory measures
against itself or its followers. Without excluding the debate of
ideas, all propaganda aiming at the denigration of other expres-sions
of faith or agnosticism is firmly proscribed.
Article 8. In the spirit of tolerance, society welcomes
religious diversity. Each religious community, ancient or modern
has the right to have its ideas and its actions honestly presented
and protected from abusive comparison and defamation. If a group
is challenged it will agree to provide enlightenment concerning
its religious, social or financial activities; in return, challengers
will concentrate upon the incriminating facts and refrain from all
abusive generalizations or insidious allusions.
Article 9. Interreligious dialogue is apt to remove
the fears and suspicions that may exist between long established
communities and newly created ones. Conducted with respect for the
convictions of others and with loyalty towards one's own convictions,
such a dialogue does not exclude mutual critique; it opens the way
to a peaceful coexistence determined by the rules of a game freely
accepted and offers a favorable setting to find solutions to the
tensions inherent in religious diversity.
Article 10. A panel of observers of religious phenomena
in which representatives of public powers, religious movements as
well as scholars could participate, could be placed under the pro-tection
of the State and provide a place likely to prevent hasty judgments
as well as shed-ding light in the event of persisting tensions or
accusations of mental manipulations, sexual abuse or financial pressures.
In the same way, an ombudsman trusted by the various parties would contribute by pro-viding mediation to resolve litigation cases.
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