Synthesis of the Annual Spiritual Human Rights Conference - "Challenges of Freedom of Religion and Belief in Europe"
On the 10th of December 2025, Human Rights Day, Soteria International, together with Human Rights Without Frontiers, the Gerard Noodt Foundation for Freedom of Religion and Belief, the European Muslim Initiative for Social Cohesion, and the Universal Peace Federation, hosted a hybrid conference in Copenhagen and online.
Moderated by Jonathan Selvig Skjalholt on behalf of Soteria International, the conference brought together human rights activists and representatives of civil society organizations to present increasingly pressing challenges to freedom of religion or belief in Europe and beyond. Across different national, religious, and ideological contexts, speakers observed a growing inconsistency between formal human rights commitments and their application by states, institutions, media, and authorities.
United on this significant day, human rights experts and spiritual practitioners offered presentations to increase public awareness of the following topics:
- “Protecting Yoga Philosophies and Their Practitioners Under Article 18 of the ICCPR” – by Willy Fautré, director of Human Rights Without Frontiers.
Willy, speaking via Zoom, emphasized the protection afforded by Article 18 of the ICCPR, stressing that freedom of religion or belief includes spiritual philosophies such as yoga traditions. He explained how individuals were arrested, stigmatized, or lost employment without convictions.
Media portrayals framed practitioners as “dangerous” despite the absence of legal findings. A university professor, Pavel Havlinka, a practitioner of the Path of YahRa in Czechia, lost his job due to the media campaign. Yoga teachers from the Atman Federation, Adina and Mihai Stoian, are currently detained in France, despite having never taught yoga there, and no complaint has ever been made against them in any country. The presumption of innocence, a core principle of the rule of law, is being repeatedly violated in the case of religious minorities. Administrative measures, reputational damage, and social exclusion have devastating effects on spiritual practitioners, even when no crime has been legally identified.
- “Human Rights Situation for Muslim Communities in Denmark and EU” – by Bashy Quraishy, secretary general at EMISCO.
Bashy addressed the human rights situation of Muslim communities in Denmark and the EU. Muslims, despite being the second largest religious group, face systematic marginalization in a society that calls itself secular and democratic. Official denial of racism coexists with policies targeting Muslim populations, such as labelling neighborhoods as “ghettos” and dismantling them under social engineering policies. Discriminatory practices extend to family reunification and visa procedures. These examples show how secularism can transform neutrality into exclusion.
- “The Co-dependence of Rights” – by Gregory Christensen, leader of Youths for Human
Gregory highlighted that human rights are co-dependent. Freedom of religion, expression, and thought cannot exist in isolation. Lack of public education about human rights considerably correlates with abuses and social exclusion, which starts with easily noticeable bullying at schools. Teaching children about rights and responsibilities is essential for sustainable change. He underlined that freedom of speech is meaningless without freedom of thought, and that societies often marginalize those who challenge dominant conventions.
- "Serious Oppression of Religious Freedom in South Korea" – by Nobuhiro Igarashi, chairman of Universal Peace Federation.
Nobuhiro drew attention to serious violations of religious freedom in South Korea, including harsh arrests such as that of Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon. He emphasized that South Korea and Japan are pivotal contexts in which international human rights scrutiny is urgently needed and that political interference often leads to violations of freedom of religion and belief. Nobuhiro stressed that when the judiciary becomes a political tool used to silence the believers, democracy loses its foundation, and when religious freedom disappears, those in power can suppress others and impose specific beliefs.
He warned that failure to address religious repression in one region risks normalizing and exporting such practices globally.
- “The Shrinking Operational Space for Minority Religions in Europe: A Growing Administrative Challenge” – by Hans Noot, director of the Gerard Noodt Foundation.
Hans described a broader European shift toward religious deconfiguration - while societies increasingly speak the language of inclusion, religious expression, especially within minority religions, is becoming unwelcome. “Neutrality” is redefined not as tolerance of beliefs, but as their absence from public space. Minority religions face growing administrative obstacles rather than overt persecution. This signals a transformation of freedom-of-belief restrictions from legal prohibitions to bureaucratic suppression.
- “Building Understanding Beyond Secular Bias and Anti-cult Narratives in Czechia and Central ” – by Eva Miskelova, Path of YahRa, International Spiritual Society.
Eva addressed Central Europe. Czechia is one of the least religious countries in the world, shaped by post-communist secularism. Religious children face bullying, and anti-cult ideology represents a significant threat to pluralism. Violent acts against religious groups elsewhere in Europe (e.g., attacks on Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany) demonstrate that stigmatization can have deadly consequences. Anti-cult rhetoric was identified as a contemporary form of intolerance, legitimizing surveillance and repression. Sensational headlines in the media stigmatize spiritual minorities for clicks. There is no fact-checking. There is no right to reply. Eva continued to underline that the government and media are rarely trained in freedom of religion or belief, and without knowledge, discrimination goes unnoticed or unchallenged.
- “Media and Institutional Harassment” – by Arthur Lederer, vice-chairman of Natha Yoga Center Denmark.
Arthur provided a detailed account and concrete effects of the abuse and harassment against the Danish yoga school, Natha Yoga Center, and its students. He shared a recurring phenomenon in which media act as both prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner, with devastating effects for organizations and individuals. He continued to outline how French authorities, due to an ongoing investigation into two former teachers at the yoga school, pressured students (French citizens) at the school in Denmark to provide information about their involvement. When the adult students refused, which they have the right to, the French authorities threatened that any lack of cooperation would lead to calling parents (French citizens) in for questioning in the police station, resulting in one case to the collapse of an entire family. Arthur continued to share about the occurrence of a police raid during classes, the examination of private notebooks, and invasive investigations.
Journalistic narratives labelling the yoga school as a “dangerous cult” create an image where attempts to demonstrate innocence are used as further proof of guilt. This testimony illustrates how media interference can bypass judicial safeguards.
- “Do European Institutions Adequately Ensure the Protection of Human Rights?” – By Camelia Marin, Soteria International.
Camelia concluded by questioning whether European institutions genuinely protect human rights. Human rights originate from shared moral principles across cultures, not from ideological dogma. Even highly ranked democracies, such as Denmark, display serious flaws in implementation. Camelia shared a brief analysis of the compatibility of EU law with the European Court of Human Rights, highlighting complex issues. The evolution of this relationship remains crucial to ensuring the adequate protection of human rights within the European Union and in interaction with the European Court of Human Rights. Thus, we raise our concern about how respect for fundamental human rights and international judicial collaboration, including the rule of law, will be applied in the European context.
Conclusion
The conference identified a pattern of systematic erosion of freedom of religion or belief which repeats in various religious groups, not always through explicit legal bans, but through presumption of guilt, anti-cult narratives, media-driven stigmatization, administrative harassment, and redefined secular neutrality. Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR): The freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or belief is of paramount importance when it comes to our ability to grow and evolve as individuals and as a society, and must therefore be held in the highest regard in terms of application in our world today.
Speakers collectively warned that human rights protections are only as strong as their application. The conference called for renewed vigilance, education, and accountability in institutions and the media, and a recommitment to the foundational principle that belief, conscience, and spirituality must never be treated as a crime.