Module 3: Best Practices to Prevent and/or Solve Religious Conflicts

Summary and learning goals

Religious conflicts are broadly defined as any conflict involving a restriction in some form of the religious freedom of an individual or a community. Such conflicts are generally not exclusively about religion, but religion is a factor among others of the conflict. Based on the result of almost a decade of empirical research in Latin America, this module presents a series of best practices to address religious conflicts. From the most preferable to the least preferable, these best practices can be grouped as prevention, conflict resolution and litigation tools, which are successively discussed in the first three sessions. In a final session, the notion of ‘resilience’ is introduced, along with the presentation of further tools to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable religious communities.

Learning goals:

• Students are familiar with the best practices to prevent and/or solve religious conflicts;
• Students are able to determine under which circumstances to adopt a prevention, a conflict resolution or a litigation strategy;
• Students understand the available tools to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable religious groups.

Video lectures

• Prevention Strategies
  1. Interreligious Dialogue (Public Policies to Promote Religious Freedom, Interreligious Councils)
  2. Awareness Raising (Religious Freedom Literacy, Community Learning of Indigenous Communities)
  3. How-to of Documentation of Incidents of Violation of Religious Freedom
  4. Legislative Initiatives (Brazil, Mexico, Model Legislation)
• Conflict Resolution Strategies

1. 5. The Role of Religious Organizations in Peace-Building
   6. Recommendations for Religious Freedom Advocacy

• Litigation Strategies

1. 7. Litigation in Indigenous Communities
   8. Resources to Appeal to the IAHRS

• Building Resilience

1. 9. Intervention Strategies to Support Vulnerable Religious Minorities and Develop Their Resilience
   10. The Role Religious Groups Could Play to Mitigate the Impact of Organized Crime
   11. Policy Recommendations to Address Minority-Within-the-Minority Conflicts
   12. Recommendations for Religious Minorities in Authoritarian Regimes