This Library Note provides background reading for the debate. It briefly examines Article 18’s status in international law, its role in promoting freedom of belief, and then presents sources which examine freedom of religion around the world.
Debate on 24 July 2014: International Compliance with Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Concerning Freedom of Belief (290 KB , PDF)
Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
This Library Note provides background reading for the debate. It briefly examines Article 18’s status in international law, its role in promoting freedom of belief, and then presents sources which examine freedom of religion around the world.
Debate on 24 July 2014: International Compliance with Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Concerning Freedom of Belief (290 KB , PDF)
The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill is a private member’s bill that has government support. The purpose of the bill is to amend the Equality Act 2010 to make employers liable for harassment of their employees by third parties (such as customers or clients) and to introduce a specific duty on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent the sexual harassment of their employees.
Before an employer can make an employee on maternity, adoption or shared parental leave redundant, redundancy protection regulations require an employer to give that employee first refusal on a suitable alternative vacancy where one exists. The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill would give the secretary of state powers to introduce regulations that would enable redundancy protections to apply from the point an employee told their employer that they were pregnant, and six months after returning from maternity, adoption or shared parental leave.
The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill is due to have its second reading in the House of Lords on 6 February 2023. The bill would automatically revoke, or ‘sunset’, most retained EU law at the end of 2023. However it would also give ministers powers to exempt some retained EU law from the sunset and to restate, reproduce, replace or update retained EU law by statutory instrument.
