A. You could say that the effects will be hard to 'prove' but the very fact that in the last few years governments, multi-nationals, even the UN have begun to engage in serious interreligious dialogue shows that it has a significance, that religious communities play a key role in the issues that societies have to address today.
You might like to try and get a copy of Faith in Human Rights by Robert Traer, the former General Secretary of the International Association for Religious Freedom ( see www.iarf.net and http://religionhumanrights.net - this has a research page).
I see there is a journal, Religion and Human Rights (though I do not know it personally): www.brill.nl/rhrs
You might like to check out the work of Dr Chandra Muzaffar and the International Movement for a Just World in Malaysia: www.just-international.org
Also Sulak Sivaraksa in Thailand: www.sulak-sivaraksa.org/en/
Rabbis for Human Rights in Israel: http://rhr.israel.net
Dr Brian Walker offered this advice:
The effects of interreligious dialogue on human rights cover considerable ground. Before carrying out primary research, you might wish initially to refer to a general reference, such as the European Commissions 'EU Human Rights Guidelines' http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/human_rights/guidelines/index.htm.
This may help you to narrow your field of enquiry.
A search of faith specific sites, such as the World Council of Churches, http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/interreligious/index-e.html , and the Hindu Forum of Britain, http://www.hfb.org.uk/Default.aspx?sID=18&lID=0, will provide information on the position of particular religious communities.
A search of the major multi-faith organisation sites will provide a guide from national and international perspectives. These include: International Interfaith Centre www.interfaith-centre.org ; World Congress of Faiths, www.worldfaiths.org ; United Religions Initiative, www.uri.org ; Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions, www.cpwr.org ; and, our own, World Conference of Religions for Peace, www.religionsforpeace.org . On the latter site, search for "human rights" and also click on resources to see some of the human rights issues addressed.
Turning to primary research, you might access the site of the Inter Faith Network for the United Kingdom, www.interfaith.org.uk , where you will find contacts for many of the national, regional and local inter faith groups in the UK.
