Description
Freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) is widely recognized and protected under international human rights law, primarily under Article 18 of the ICCPR. Although its internal forum is non-derogable even in emergencies under human rights law, the laws of war have long offered protection for faith during times of conflict. Yet wars and long-lasting crises in the SWANA region often turn sacred time and space into targets. This paper explores how international humanitarian law (IHL) can and should be used to defend FoRB during armed conflict. It summarizes IHL's positive obligations regarding detainees’ religious practices (such as access to rites and ministers), the enhanced protection of cultural and religious property (including bans on attacking or using these sites for military purposes), and the protections owed to religious personnel. It then connects these duties to individual criminal accountability (war crimes, persecution as a crime against humanity, and genocide where protected groups are targeted “as such”). Through doctrinal analysis and case studies (e.g., Lebanon 2006; Gaza 2023; ISIS crimes against Yazidis), the paper recommends practical steps: embedding FoRB protections into rules of engagement, facilitating humanitarian access for clergy, and standardizing evidence collection on attacks targeting places of worship. The core argument is that enforcing current IHL tools rather than creating new ones provides the quickest way to narrow the gap between FoRB's promise and its reality in wartime. However, it also underscores ongoing challenges—political selectivity, lack of enforcement mechanisms, and the exploitation of religion in war—that continue to widen the gap between IHL’s normative commitments and the actual experiences of faith during conflict.
