[hr-council] Human Rights Council adopts resolution on defamation of religions
HREA
Reporters without Borders Press release
27.03.2009
In
the resolution it adopted yesterday on the defamation of religions, the
United Nations Human Rights Council has yet again demonstrated its
inability to defend the values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, Reporters Without Borders said.
“The
Council had just dealt a severe blow to the freedom of expression it is
supposed to defend,” the press freedom organisation said. “By
approving a resolution that seeks to suppress criticism of Islam, this UN
body has once again shown that it is incapable of defending human rights
effectively.
“This resolution is outrageous. On the
grounds of combating discrimination, it assails the news media for the
‘targeting of religious symbols’ and ‘sacred
persons,’ especially those of Islam. In other words, the UN is asking
the media to stop criticising Islam in the name of combating incitement to
religious hatred. This is unacceptable to all those who feel strongly about
the defence of free expression.”
Reporters Without
Borders added: “The UN is on a slippery slope that poses a danger for
freedom of opinion. All the freedoms must be defended with equal strength.
It is not acceptable for the UN to take such an extreme stand in defence of
one freedom at the expense of another. It goes against all of the
UN’s fundamental principles.”
Submitted by Pakistan
on behalf of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and concerning
implementation of the Durban conference on racism’s programme of
action, the resolution was approved at yesterday’s UN Human Rights
Council meeting in Geneva by 23 votes in favour, 11 against (European
Union, Canada and Chile) and 13 abstentions.
The resolution
urges UN member countries to adopt measures to combat “acts of
hatred, discrimination, intimidation and coercion resulting from the
defamation of any religion” and deplores “the use of printed,
audio-visual and electronic media, including the Internet” to target
religious symbols and sacred persons. It voices concern about the failure
of certain countries to combat discriminatory practices and stresses the
need to combat defamation of all religions, in particular, Islam and
Muslims.
A Durban II conference will be held on 20-24 April in
Geneva.
HREA - www.hrea.org
Human Rights Education Associates (HREA) is an international non-governmental organisation that supports human rights learning; the training of activists and professionals; the development of educational materials and programming; and community-building through on-line technologies.
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