Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands are refusing to sign the redacted version unless their “concerns are taken into account,” a Dutch foreign ministry spokesman told the Guardian on Thursday. The countries worked out alternative wording and circulated their proposals among all governments participating in the international ministerial conference on freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) held in London in early July. “Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands will not sign the current amended version unless our concerns about the inclusion [sexual and reproductive health and rights] have been taken into consideration and have submitted counter-proposals to this effect yesterday,” the spokesman said in a statement. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), which sponsored the conference, initially said the changes were made to clarify “a perceived ambiguity”, but has since said it made the changes to focus on “key issues and to secure consent among the signatories’. However, the second version of the declaration, published online days after the conference ended, has just eight signatories, including the UK, while the original version had 22. The original version included a commitment to repeal any laws that “ allow harmful practices or limit women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights, bodily autonomy.” The changes, as well as the opaque way in which they were made, have also drawn fire from human rights groups and senior politicians. Caroline Nokes, the Tory chair of the women and equalities select committee, has written to the foreign secretary and Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss, asking her to explain “this sudden backsliding on women’s rights”. Labour’s shadow international development secretary, Preet Kaur Gill, described the amended statement as “yet another attack on human rights by a government whose global reputation is already tarnished”. Ed Brown, secretary general of Stefanus Alliance International (Saint), an Oslo-based religious freedom and human rights organization, worked to draft the initial statement with colleagues from Denmark. He said he would have understood if the concerns had been raised earlier, allowing all parties to reach a mutually satisfactory compromise. But the way the changes were made by the UK after the conference was a big problem, he added. “To me the procedural issue – where the declaration is taken down after 22 countries sign it – that to me is a big, big issue and to me it undermines the trust that has been built between nation states on it… That’s my major complaint.” It remains unclear who ordered the changes. The UK hosted the conference in its capacity as this year’s chair of the International Alliance for Freedom of Religion or Belief. Fiona Bruce, the Tory MP and the Prime Minister’s special envoy to FoRB, was actively involved in organizing the two-day event. Bruce and FCDO have been approached for comment.
