UN resolution threatens freedom of expression
Canada's representative at the United Nations stands ready to vote against a resolution that seeks to stifle criticism of Islam, curtail freedom of expression and undermine the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
For the past decade, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), a coalition of 57 Muslim-majority states, has championed a series of UN resolutions which supposedly promote religious tolerance. In reality, however, the resolutions are not progressive nor do they promote respect between faith communities.
Like its predecessors, the current draft of the defamation of religions resolution, to be voted on by the UN General Assembly in mid-December is not designed to protect the religious freedom of non-Muslims. According to Knox Thames, a policy specialist with the nonpartisan United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, the OIC generally discusses the resolution "in the context of limiting negative comments about Islam."
Freedom of expression
Islam is the only religion specifically mentioned in any of the defamation of religions resolutions, all of which recommend placing legal restrictions on freedom of expression regarding religion. And this troubles Lawrence Cannon, Canada's foreign affairs minister.
"Canada continues to champion the right to freedom of expression internationally," said Cannon in an e-mail. "Freedom of expression includes freedom of expression on religious subjects."
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which was established by an act of Congress and advises Washington on human rights, opposes the resolution. "The defamation of religions concept promotes intolerance and human rights violations, creating wide latitude for governments to restrict free expression and religious freedom," commission chairman Leonard Leo testified before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in October.
Blasphemy law
Pakistan's blasphemy law is considered by human rights experts to be the most repressive in the world. Defaming the Prophet Muhammad and/or defiling the Qu'ran, the Muslim holy book, are punishable by death or life imprisonment. The law is often used by religious militants to persecute religious minority communities, creating a climate of hate and violence.
Pakistan has assumed a leadership role in the defamation of religions movement, which Thames describes as "basically an attempt to export Pakistan's blasphemy laws to the international level."
Previous versions of the defamation of religions resolutions, all of which were endorsed by the UN, have offered no protection to ordinary non-Muslim Pakistanis, many of whom endure physical assaults and forced conversions to Islam. A Pakistani Christian activist, who cannot be identified for reasons of personal safety, told ChristianWeek: "We need support from around the world from all those who respect human rights, as their strong voice does have an impact."
Canada is doing just that, according to Cannon's e-mail. "Canada consistently combats all forms of religious intolerance, and calls on all states to respect the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion," the statement declares.
Religions don't have rights
Canada has consistently voted against the defamation of religions in both the General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. "Canada rejects the basic premise that religions have rights," declares Cannon, adding, "Human rights belong to human beings."
"In the case of this resolution," he explains, "the focus should not be on protecting religions, but rather on protecting the rights of adherents of religions." And that should include protection for "persons belonging to religious minorities or persons who may choose to change their religion or not to practice religion at all."
In the immediate aftermath of last summer's destruction of over 200 Christian homes and the murders of seven Christians by Muslim mobs incited to violence by false blasphemy allegations levelled against Christians in north-eastern Pakistan, the central government pledged to revamp and even possibly repeal its domestic blasphemy law. Yet it remains unclear why the Pakistani government continues to work through the UN to globalize a hateful law that it supposedly no longer believes in.
But with the passage of every defamation of religions resolution, Pakistan and the other members of the OIC move a step closer to establishing a dangerous international norm governing the freedoms of religion and expression.
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