Asian nations are failing to effectively interpret and imple-ment freedom of religion and belief for their citizens despite having constitutional provisions and guarantees, Christian legal experts said during a regional consultation.
“Although a majority of Asian countries have strong constitutional provisions and guarantees to secure their citi-zens’ freedom of religion and belief, there are severe short-comings in interpretation and implementation, or in upholding such principles in practice,” observed two legal experts during the Asia Regional Consultation on “Freedom of Religion, Rights of Religious Minorities and Constitutional Guarantees in Asia” organized by the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA).
The five-day consultation from Oct. 3-5 drew 50 partici-pants from various Asian nations.
“In order for freedom of religion and belief to be secure, enhanced and applicable to all human beings, we must comply with constitutional provisions and be consistent with international declarations,” said Eugene Yapp, senior fellow of the Religious Freedom Institute’s Southeast Asia team. “If constitutional guarantees are to be meaningful, there is a need for more context-ualized or localized approaches based on ground realities – such as cultural particularities and contingencies of a local nature.”
Yapp, former secretary-gen-eral of the Evangelical Alliance of Malaysia, also emphasized the role of churches and missionaries in Asia, stating that churches must seek concrete expression for the flourishing of “diversity of cultures in social engagement and creative dialogue for the well-being of everyone for the common good.”