Founded in 1946 by Dr. Jean NUSSBAUM assisted by Mrs. Eleanor ROOSEVELT, the first President of Honorary Committee of the AIDLR.
A Non-governmental organization with participatory status to the United Nations (UN), ECOSOC Committee in New York and Geneva, in the Council of Europe (CoE) in Strasbourg and to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Warsaw.
The International Association for the Defense of Religious Liberty (AIDLR) was founded in Paris in 1946 by Jean Nussbaum, a Swiss-born physician born on 24 November 1888 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.
With a long-standing commitment to religious freedom, Nussbaum established the association to provide a legal foundation for his advocacy efforts. The AIDLR promotes the protection of religious freedom and freedom of conscience worldwide, advocating for the right of individuals to practice their faith or hold no religious beliefs at all.
At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Jean Nussbaum was practising medicine in Chamonix, France. At the time, Serbia was suffering from a severe typhus epidemic and urgently needed international medical help. Nussbaum volunteered to help and was sent to a hospital in Niš, Serbia.
Upon his arrival, he was paired with a young Serbian nurse, Milanka Zaritch, who also acted as his interpreter. She and Nussbaum developed a deep bond and eventually married in the autumn of 1915.
Milanka Zaritch was the niece of Voyislav Marinkovic, a notable Serbian and Yugoslav diplomat who later became Prime Minister of Serbia. This family connection would open doors in the future for Dr. Jean Nussbaum, introducing him to diplomatic and international circles.
Returning to his stay in the hospital, Jean Nussbaum encountered the situation of an Austrian prisoner of war who had been sent to serve in the hospital and who wanted to practice the principles of his faith. The prisoner had put himself in grave danger by refusing to obey orders. Nussbaum intervened to save his life. This incident was a turning point for Nussbaum, triggering his lifelong commitment to the promotion and defence of freedom of conscience and religion.
Fifteen years later, in 1931, he returned to Switzerland and then to France, where he settled with his wife in Paris, working as a doctor. It was there, in 1946, that he founded the Association internationale pour la défense de la liberté religieuse (AIDLR).
The couple had only been living in Paris for a few months when Dr Jean Nussbaum was invited by religious circles to participate in a debate on a project to reform the world calendar[i]. This project was to be presented in October 1931, during the plenary session of the fourth International Convention on Transport and Communications held in Geneva by the League of Nations. The Preparatory Commission for this Convention stated in its preliminary report that the delegates at this meeting had not presented any arguments suggesting that the proposed reform might be incompatible with religious practices. As a result, representatives of religious groups were invited to present their views. While the representatives of the nations considered the issue from an economic and social point of view, most religious observers had, however, realised that it affected millions of believers around the world, in particular Jews, Christians and Muslims.
In a report on this Convention, dated 14 October 1931, Joseph Herman Hertz, Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community of the British Empire, recounted the intervention of Dr. Jean Nussbaum as follows:
‘Dr. Nussbaum urged the representatives to remember that this was an important question of conscience, and that any interference with human conscience was incompatible with the ideals of the League of Nations. All previous interventions by observers had been made in English, and several delegates had only been able to follow them through translation. This masterful speech in French, however, touched their hearts´.
Two years later, Dr. Jean Nussbaum was elected by the full delegate body of the Southern European Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church as director of its Religious Liberty Department. While practicing as a medical doctor, he began to work for religious freedom, and in this work, he received the support of several international personalities. The most significant of these was undoubtedly Pope Pius XII, with whom he had maintained a friendly relationship when he was still Cardinal Pacelli.
Dr. Nussbaum also spent part of his time for the Washington-based International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA).
The association grew rapidly, supported by international figures and Nobel laureates like **Albert Schweitzer** and **René Cassin**.
In his personal notes on his activities, Jean Nussbaum gave an account of his visits to political and religious figures in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia, but he also travelled extensively in Spain, Ethiopia, France, Great Britain, Greece and Italy. He took a keen interest in the situation in Japan and intervened on behalf of Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox Christians in difficulty.
On 25 April 1945, Jean Nussbaum attended the United Nations Convention in San Francisco where he and Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt were appointed members of the Economic and Social Council to deal with human rights issues. It was there that they met and where the two quickly connected on human rights issues, bringing them closer together in the battle they were both fighting and building their cooperation in the years that followed:
‘[…] every time he went to the United States, that is, at least once a year, Dr. Nussbaum was hosted by Mrs. Roosevelt and her children, at their estate. When he came to Paris, he used to stay at the Hotel Crillon and had several meetings with the doctor, who would organise dinners at his home, Avenue de la Grande Armée, or in the city’.
When Jean Nussbaum mentioned his plan to found the International Association for the Defence of Religious Liberty in Paris and expressed the wish that she would be its first Honorary Committee president, the American authorities agreed.
Over the years, AIDLR has expanded its reach, establishing national sections across Europe and Africa.
Its advocacy contributed significantly to international agreements, including the **1981 UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief**.
On September 15, 1987, within the framework of the International Year of Peace, Mr. Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, then the Secretary General of the United Nations, conferred on the AIDLR the title of “Messenger of Peace”.
On April 27, 1998, its General Secretary, Maurice Verfaillie, was awarded the Cross of Commander of the Order of National Merit, conferred by the King of Spain, Juan Carlos I. According to the regulations of the Order of Queen Isabella the Catholic, its purpose is ‘to reward extraordinary civilian behaviour, carried out by Spanish and foreign individuals, which benefits the Nation or which contributes, in a relevant way, to favouring the relations of friendship and cooperation of the Spanish Nation with the rest of the International Community’.
The best-known contribution to the reflection and promotion of the fundamental right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion of the International Association for the Defense of Religious Liberty is the publication of its official organ, the Conscience et liberté [Conscience and Liberty] magazine.
From its very beginning, the editors’ policy has been to promote a magazine with an academic, non-denominational and pluralistic character.
This magazine is published in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian. The first issue in Bulgarian went off the press in December, 1998, and in Czech in 2005.
Jean Nussbaum passed away in 1967, leaving behind a legacy of tireless advocacy for religious freedom. His vision for a world where individuals can practice their faith without fear continues through AIDLR’s ongoing work.
Promoting Religious Liberty and Freedom of Religion and Belief everyday, everywhere.
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