Ahlul Bayt News Agency - ABNA - The Islamic Group in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) tries to collect as much as possible of votes in favor of a resolution condemning the recent call by an extremist group to organize a Day to Burn copies of the Holy Quran.
The Islamic countries expressed their deep concern over the instances of intolerance, discrimination, profiling and acts of violence against Muslims occurring in many parts of the world.
The draft resolution also calls to condemn any advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to hatred, discrimination, hostility or violence and calls upon the international community to stand united against such events which undermine peaceful coexistence between nations and create an environment conducive to violence and reprisal.
The Islamic countries call upon also all States to condemn and oppose, in accordance with their obligations, under international human rights law, any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to hatred, discrimination and hostility. They urge, through this resolution, the international community to support all international and regional initiatives to promote cross-cultural and interfaith harmony.
The resolution based on reaffirming the pledge made by all States under the Charter of the United Nations to promote and encourage universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion. It also reaffirms that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated, reaffirming further that discrimination between human beings on the grounds of religion or belief constitutes an affront to human dignity and a disavowal of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. It shall be condemned as a violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and enunciated in detail in the International Covenants on Human Rights, and as an obstacle to friendly and peaceful relations between nations, Welcoming all international and regional initiatives to promote cross-cultural and interfaith harmony, and their valuable efforts towards promoting a culture of peace and dialogue at all levels, Welcoming the resolve expressed in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 55/2 on 8 September 2000, to take measures to eliminate the increasing acts of racism and xenophobia in many societies and to promote greater harmony and tolerance in all societies, and looking forward to its effective implementation at all levels. It is expected that the draft resolution will be supported by all the members of the Human rights council as the western governments had officially protested against the idea to burn the Quran and therefore observers do not see any reason to vote against the draft resolution.
While other observers believe that the decision of the condemnation though all the member states in the council will encourage Muslim countries to move forward in its efforts to lay the foundations and rules of respect the religions linked to the human rights. Some western governments fear that this is incompatible with freedom of expression.
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