PARTICIPANTS

Richard Falk
UCSB Global & International Studies

Richard Falk is Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University and Visiting Distinguished Professor in Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 2001 he served on a three person Human Rights Inquiry Commission for the Palestine Territories that was appointed by the United Nations, and previously, on the Independent International Commission on Kosovo. He serves as Chair of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's Board of Directors. Falk also acted as counsel to Ethiopia and Liberia in the Southwest Africa Case before the International Court of Justice. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including The Costs of War (2008) and The Declining World Order (2004). Other works include Religion and Humane Global Governance (2001); Human Rights Horizons (2000); On Humane Governance: Toward a New Global Politics (1995); Explorations at the Edge of Time: The Prospects for World Order (1992). He has also co-edited numerous works, including Crimes of War (2006).  He received his B.S. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; L.L.B. from Yale Law School; and J.S.D. from Harvard University.

Paragraph Statement

Question: What do you think is the most important issue involving religion that confronts international NGOs?

I believe that international human rights NGOs have an important role to play by increasing their emphasis on problems facing religious minorities in certain states (e.g. Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia) where the governing authorities are associated with a dominant religion. And perhaps more importantly in highlighting issues of discrimination against religiously observant women in a country such as Turkey where the government, although led by religiously observant men, is unable to protect the religious freedom of women who wear headscarves. In Turkey, the hardcore Kemalist opposition, the so-called ‘deep state,’ and a strongly patriarchal culture combine to prevent the realization of basic human rights for religiously observant Muslim women. In this regard, international human rights NGOs are challenged to focus on the appropriate interplay of secular governmental authority and freedom of religion. Some similar issues are present in several other countries, including France and China, where religious practices and organizations are stigmatized in various ways, and even suppressed on grounds of security or to uphold a secular national identity.

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