UN Council drops ‘defamation’ in resolution

1958
UN General Assembly session

UN General Assembly sessionTHE United Nations Human Rights Council dropped the ‘defamation’ part of the Religions Resolution.

Advocacy Director for Open Doors USA Lindsay Vessey says: “The US government was very active in working with them in drafting a new text, so it’s no longer a ‘Defamation of Religions Resolution,’ but it’s actually a new resolution on promoting religious tolerance.”

Groups like Open Doors joined a coalition of many others to protest the import of the resolution. Through their advocacy campaign ‘Free to Believe’, more than 428,000 people from over 70 different countries signed a petition urging countries to vote against the defamation resolution last fall.

The defamation resolution received the least support ever in 2010, narrowly passing the UN Human Rights Council and General Assembly by 4 and 13 votes, respectively.

The original non-binding resolution has been put forth by the Organization of Islamic Conference and accepted by the Council since 1999. The risk was that “as it continues to pass, people look on it favorably, as if this is something that we all agree to. It also gave legitimacy to these national laws that were so bad, like in Pakistan where they have the blasphemy law.”

The new resolution refers to the Charter of the United Nations, reiterating the right to freedom of religion or belief. The resolution also reaffirms the positive role that the exercise of the right to freedom of opinion and expression has, while expressing concern about incidents of intolerance, discrimination and violence against persons based on their religion or belief in all regions of the world.

Says Vessey: “It’s not something that the US would write, ourselves, but it is significantly better and addresses almost all of the issues that we had with the previous resolution.”

Additionally, the resolution strongly deplores all acts of violence against persons on the basis of their religion or belief, as well as any such acts directed against their homes, businesses, properties, schools, cultural centers or places of worship. It recognizes that open public debate of ideas can be the best protection against religious intolerance.

The defamation of religions resolutions, although not legally binding, provided international legitimacy for national laws that punish blasphemy or ban criticism of a religion. A prime example is the blasphemy law in Pakistan.

Vessey notes that “sharing a truth claim, particularly one about Christ, like ‘Jesus is the Son of God’–something like that, would be considered ‘blasphemous’ in Islam.”

The impact is chilling.

“In that system, evangelizing could land you in prison, or even with the death penalty,” she explains, adding that “now, with the UN no longer supporting that kind of conduct, I think that’s a very positive thing. How is that actually going to be implemented on the ground, if countries still have their national (blasphemy) laws?”

While the changes are an obvious answer to prayer, how OIC member countries treat religious minorities is still an issue.

Additionally, Vessey says: “We’re very wary of what might happen. We’re looking to see if they try to bring it up in another avenue at the UN.”

Dr. Carl Moeller, president and CEO of Open Doors USA, adds: “The most disturbing issues with the defamation resolutions at the UN have been addressed in this new resolution. Open Doors recognizes and appreciates the critical role that US legislators, the US State Department under both the previous and current administration, and fellow religious freedom groups have played in campaigning and lobbying against the defamation of religions resolutions and producing a compromise text. I warmly welcome this effort of the Human Rights Council to address both freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief in a more balanced and constructive way.”

Open Doors will be monitoring whether or not the countries implement the stated ideals of the new draft, because, she says, “It’s fine to introduce the resolution, but if you’re not abiding by it, what have you really accomplished?”

OIC member countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan continue to actively persecute religious minorities or allow extremists inside their countries to persecute non-Muslim faith groups with little or no consequences. MNN

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