Islam and Free Speech

... The new, supposedly reformed UN Human Rights Council ended up with such human rights champions as Cuba, Russia, and China, along with 14 members of the OIC, including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Algeria.

In its meeting of March 2007, the new council promptly adopted a new resolution warning that "defamation of religion…leads to violations of human rights" and again mentioning only "Islam and Muslims" by name... [snip]

"... speech may therefore be subject to limitations…necessary for respect of the rights and reputations of others…and respect for religions and beliefs" and therefore "deplore[d] the use of the print, audio-visual and electronic media, including the Internet…to incite…xenophobia or related intolerance and discrimination toward Islam"

In its meeting of March 2008, the council voted to refer its concerns about "defamation of religion" to the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression. In effect, the resolution demanded that protection of free speech give way to protection against improper—Islamophobic— speech.

As the Canadian delegate protested,

"instead of promoting freedom of expression, the Special Rapporteur would be policing its exercise."

But of course, it made no difference. In its December meeting at the end of last year, the UN General Assembly simply went ahead and endorsed the OIC-sponsored resolution that condemned "discrimination against religions"—but, as usual, mentioned only "Islamophobia" rather than attacks on any other faith...

[Long, but necessary reading to know why our participation in the UN is among the greatest long term threats we face - Highly Recommended > ]

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