olire.org/es / / olire.org Brochure
About us
OLIRE is part of the Foundation Platform for Social Transformation (FPST). We are a research, training and advocacy program that monitors and documents the state of religious freedom in Latin America. We offer to be a space that allows the understanding and promotion of religious freedom from an academic, non-denominational and non-partisan perspective, with the goal of promoting religious freedom for all faiths. Our areas of work include:
Monitoring
OLIRE monitors the state of religious freedom in the region by documenting incidents of religious freedom violations and researching the structural conditions that threaten it. We are particularly interested in the situation of vulnerable religious minorities whose rights are being infringed.
Empowerment
By training individuals or organizations, especially religious minorities, we promote greater understanding of the right to religious freedom and awareness of how to defend it.
Influence
We carry out advocacy work through the development of public policy recommendations for the effective protection of religious freedom and the rights of religious minorities in different areas and at all levels.
Services
What do we offer?
Country diagnosis of the situation of religious freedom, considering the multidimensional aspect of this right.
Mapping of the legal framework and government practices, by country, regarding the right to religious freedom.
Monitoring and documentation of religious freedom violations in contexts of organized crime, authoritarian governments, indigenous communities and hostility towards religious expressions in the public space.
Access to the Violent Incident Database platform.
Products: Recent interventions
Execution of field research projects with civil society organizations focused on religious freedom and intersecting rights in Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela, including the religious freedom of indigenous communities.
Monitoring and documentation of religious freedom violations in different countries in the region.
Collaboration with USCIRF in the development of the report Religious Freedom for Indigenous Communities in Latin America.
Empowerment 2.2
Services
Training and consulting for different state and non-state actors.
Training topics include human rights protection systems, the right to religious freedom (multidimensional perspective) and intersecting rights, limitations to the right to religious freedom, monitoring and documentation of religious freedom violations.
Distance internship program for university students and recent graduates.
Development of content on the right to religious freedom (e.g. infographics, manuals, etc.), according to the target audience.
Advice to produce protocols to document and report violations of religious freedom.
Participation in conferences, roundtables, among others, to contribute to the understanding of the multidimensional perspective of the right to religious freedom.
Products: Recent interventions
Training and consultancy on the right to religious freedom and related rights for different actors: indigenous communities, journalists, human rights defenders, religious leaders, members of religious communities, civil society organizations and public officials.
Coordination of virtual internships for students from Colombia, Peru and the Netherlands.
Preparation of country and thematic religious freedom reports in the region.
Publications of articles and books on religious freedom issues in Latin America, both in Spanish and English
Collaboration with religious freedom, and inclusive societies programs at various universities, religious freedom consortia and round tables, among others.
2.3
Influence
Services
Technical assistance in the elaboration of documents/reports that allow religious and indigenous communities to present the challenges that prevent the full exercise of their right to religious freedom, to regional and international platforms, as well as to local authorities.
Advising on the preparation of reports on the state of religious freedom, to be presented in the spaces provided for this purpose by multilateral and/or universal organizations (OAS, UN, etc.).
Consulting in the development of public policies regarding religious freedom.
Coordination/participation in in-person and virtual events focused on promoting the right to religious freedom or on presenting the situation of this right according to the context of each country.
Products: Recent interventions
Presentation of shadow reports to the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of Nicaragua, Bolivia and El Salvador.
Participation in the 185th Session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, with the theme: «Protection of the fundamental rights of religious leaders in the context of violence in Argentina, Colombia, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras and Mexico».
Preparation and presentation of the Amicus Curiae: Pavez Pavez vs. Chile Case, before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
Participation in a virtual public hearing before the Board of Directors of the First Permanent Constitutional Commission of the Senate of Colombia to include religious leaders as victims of the armed conflict.
Contributions to the German government’s report on religious freedom on issues related to Latin America.
Religious Freedom for Indigenous Communities in Latin America. Report prepared in collaboration with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
Honduras: Human Rights Situation. Report prepared by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Reports on International Religious Freedom prepared by the US Department of State - Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Constitutional Reform and Religious Freedom in Cuba: Report prepared by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
Annual Report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)Nicaragua Chapter.
OLIRE’s findings are considered as a reference for human rights protection agencies and government offices.
olire.org/es / / olire.org Brochure
October 2024