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Islamic states seek
world freedom curbs: humanists
By Robert Evans Wed
Mar 12, 4:11 PM ET
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GENEVA (Reuters) - Islamic states
are bidding to use the United Nations to limit freedom of expression
and belief around the world, the global humanist body
International Humanist and Ethical Union - IHEU
told the U.N.'s Human Rights Council on Wednesday.
In a statement submitted to the 48-nation Council, the IHEU said the
57 members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC)
were also aiming to undermine the 1948 Universal Declaration of
Human Rights.
 "The
Islamic states see human rights exclusively in Islamic terms, and by
sheer weight of numbers this view is becoming dominant within the
U.N. system. The implications for the universality of human rights
are ominous," it said.
The statement from the IHEU, the International Humanist and Ethical
Union, was issued as the U.N.'s special investigator on freedom of
opinion and expression argued in a report that religions had no
special protection under human rights law. |
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 Ambeyi
Ligabo, a Kenyan jurist, said in a report to the Council
limitations on freedom of expression in international rights pacts
"are not designed to protect belief systems from external or
internal criticism."
MOUNTING SUCCESS
But this argument is rejected by Islamic states, who say outright
criticism -- and especially lampooning -- of religion violates the
rights of believers to enjoy respect. |
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The IHEU statement and Ligabo's
report came against the background of mounting success by the
OIC, currently holding a summit in Dakar, in achieving passage of
U.N. resolutions against "defamation of religions."
Although several such resolutions have been adopted by the
two-year-old Council and its predecessor since 1999, in December the
U.N.'s General Assembly easily passed a similar one for the first
time over mainly Western and Latin American opposition. |
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 The
OIC -- backed by allies in Africa and by Russia and Cuba -- has been
pushing for stronger resolutions on "defamation" since a global
controversy arose two years ago over cartoons in a Danish newspaper
which Muslims say insult their religion. |
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The "defamation" issue has
become especially sensitive this year as the U.N. prepares to
celebrate in the autumn the 50th anniversary of the 1948 Universal
Declaration, long seen as the bedrock of international human rights
law and practice. |
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The OIC has been actively
promoting its own 1990 Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam,
which it argues is complementary to the Universal Declaration
but which critics like the IHEU say negate it in many areas.
Humanists, who include believers of many faiths supporting
separation of religion and state as well as atheists and agnostics,
say the "defamation" drive is part of an effort to extend the Cairo
declaration to the international sphere.
The IHEU statement argued the December General Assembly resolution
means states "may now legislate against any show of disrespect for
religion, however they may choose to define 'disrespect'." |
