Human Rights of Armed Forces Personnel Box 9.1: ODIHR Guidelines on the Review of Legislation Pertaining to Religion or Belief (2004), page 10 1. Internal freedom (forum internum). The key international instruments confirm that “[e]veryone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.” In contrast to manifestations of religion, the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion within the forum internum is absolute and may not be subjected to limitations of any kind. Thus, for example, legal requirements mandating involuntary disclosure of religious beliefs are impermissible. Both the UDHR (Article 18) and the ECHR (Article 9) recognize that the protection of the forum internum includes the right to change one’s religion or belief. The UN Human Rights Committee’s General Comment No. 22 on Article 18 states that “freedom to ‘have or to adopt’ a religion or belief necessarily entails the freedom to choose a religion or belief, including, inter alia, the right to replace one’s current religion or belief with another or to adopt atheistic views, as well as the right to retain one’s religion or belief”. In any event, the right to “change” or “to have or adopt” a religion or belief appears to fall within the domain of the absolute internal-freedom right, and legislative provisions that impose limitations in this domain are inconsistent with internal-freedom requirements. 2. External freedom (forum externum). Everyone has the freedom, either alone or in community with others, in public or private, “to manifest his [or her] religion or belief in worship, observance, practice, and teaching” (ICCPR, Article 18(1)). As suggested by this phrase, the scope of protected manifestations is broad. Thus, legislation that protects only worship or narrow manifestation in the sense of ritual practice is inadequate. Also, it is important to remember that it is both the manifestations of an individual’s beliefs and those of a community that are protected. Thus, the manifestation of an individual’s beliefs may be protected even if the individual’s beliefs are stricter than those of other members of the community to which he or she belongs. […] Manifestations of religion or belief, in contrast to internal freedom, may be limited, but only under strictly limited circumstances set forth in the applicable limitations clauses. Limitations are permissible only if warranted under these limitations clauses […]. There are also positive and negative dimensions to freedom of religion or belief. Positive dimension of freedom of religion or belief relates to protecting and fulfilling this right, including the freedom to believe and to actively manifest one’s religion or belief. The right to manifest one’s religion may include participating in acts of worship, reading sacred texts, praying, telling others about one’s religious beliefs, following certain dress or dietary requirements, and observing holy days. The negative dimension to freedom of religion or belief relates to respecting this right and, as such, is freedom from coercion or discrimination on the grounds of religious or 144