Are International Human Rights Organizations Effective in Protecting Religious Freedom?

Abstract

This paper examines whether international human rights organizations (HROs) influence the protection of religious freedom, and whether the effect is different on the protection of religious rights for institutions versus individuals. This study not only reveals the institutional and individual dimensions of religious restrictions with an exploratory factor analysis, but also uses fixed effects models to analyze cross-national time-series data covering 1990–2003. The results indicate that the domestic presence of HROs has a positive effect on reducing both aggregate religious restrictions and the two dimensions of religious restrictions.