Compendium of Standards, Good Practices and Recommendations Chapter 9: Religion in the Armed Forces Introduction: Issues at Stake The right to freedom of religion or belief is granted to all individuals, including members of the armed forces. As such, military institutions need to take into account the religious or other beliefs of service personnel. In some states, legislation requires armed forces to accommodate religious practices. Generally, armed forces that wish to reflect the diverse composition of the societies that they protect and attract the best employees will aim to remove barriers to participation by men and women from different religious or belief backgrounds. Therefore, in addition to meeting their international human rights obligations and implementing national legislation, states should try and accommodate the religious practices of armed forces personnel to the extent that this can be achieved without compromising military effectiveness. While practices differ among states, this may include setting aside space or time for prayer, providing access to spiritual counsellors or other religious representatives, organizing religious burial rites, allowing time off for holy days, permitting the wearing of religious symbols and clothing, and facilitating dietary regimes, among other measures. This chapter examines the practical issues surrounding the respect for the right of freedom of religion or belief of service personnel in OSCE participating States, including the potential challenges of accommodating the right to freedom of religion or belief in general, and religious practices in particular, within the armed forces. The main human rights obligations recognizing freedom of religion or belief and prohibiting discrimination on grounds of religion or belief are explained. Further, this chapter examines some of the ways in which states provide for the freedom to manifest different religions in the armed forces and identifies good practices. The question of religiously motivated conscientious objection to military service is discussed in depth in “Chapter 8: Conscientious Objection to Military Service”. International human rights law recognizes that freedom of religion or belief comprises both internal and external dimensions. The internal dimension concerns the freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of one’s choice, which also includes the right to change one’s religion or belief. The external dimension concerns the right to manifest one’s religion or belief, including the freedom to worship and the freedom to teach, practice and observe one’s religion or belief. 143