BQ 707 – 3/2022
Thomas Schirrmacher lectures virtually on Werner Nel’s “Grievous religious persecution” at University of Johannesburg together with Heiner Bielefeld

21. January 2022

(Bonn, 21.01.2022) Schirrmacher gave his presentation endorsing the programme of the book as Director of the IIRF, as the book was published as volume 5 in one of IIRF’s book series, as publisher, as he owns Culture and science Publ., as well as as Incoming Secretary General of WEA – just four days away from taking office.

The invitation stated:

“The South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International Law (SAIFAC), a centre of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in partnership with the Faculty of Law at UJ, and in association with the World Evangelical Alliance’s (WEA) International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF) invite you to the online launch of the book: ‘Grevious Religious Persecution’, by Dr. Werner Nel. Dr. Nel is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law within the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, and book review editor of the International Journal for Religious Freedom. He formerly also served as secretary of the Religious Liberty Commission, South Africa (an RLP Associate Member).”

The invitation quoted from the forward of Prof. Dr. Heiner Bielefeldt, former U.N. Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, wrote:

“Nel focuses on griev-ous religious persecution as one manifestation of crimes against humanity. In spite of shocking reports in recent years about mass-scale atrocities, the issue of reli-gious persecution so far has received comparatively limited attention in academic literature. By meticulously putting together the various elements that jointly define religious persecution, Nel’s dissertation fills a frequently felt gap. Moreover, he re-minds us that humanity cannot remain silent about manifestations of grievous reli-gious persecution, which after all are crimes against humanity as a whole. Interna-tional criminal law must be applied to overcome the gloating triumph of perpetrators over their victims.”

The event was hosted by Prof David Bilchitz, Director of SAIFAC, along with Dr Mispa Roux, Co-Director of SAIFAC.

The programme of the book launch:

  • Chair: Charissa Fawole (Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at SAIFAC, charissa@saifac.org.za);
  • Prof. Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher – Director of the International Institute for Religious Freedom; also Publisher of the book; incoming Secretary General of WEA;
  • Author, Dr Werner Nel;
  • Prof. Dr. Heiner Bielefeldt – former UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief;
  • Prof. Dr. Christof Sauer – Co-Director of the IIRF and co-supervisor for Werner’s doctoral study;
  • Questions and answers.

Bibliographical Details

  • Werner Nicolaas Nel: Grievous religious persecution: A conceptualisation of crimes against humanity of religious persecution. Religious Freedom Series Vol. 5: Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft (VKW) – Culture and Science Publ.: Bonn, 2021. 496 pp. ISBN 978-3-86269-204-0.

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