[Washington Times] Betsy Pisik - The Bush administration, European governments, and religious rights organizations are mounting a new effort to defeat a General Assembly resolution that demands respect for Islam and other religions but has been used to justify persecution of religious minorities. The resolution, called "Combating Defamation of Religion," is sponsored by the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). The Bush administration and European governments warn that the resolution - which specifically mentions Islam but no other religions - is an Orwellian text that has been used to shut down free speech. The resolution "replaces the existing objective criterion of limitations on speech where there is an intent to incite hatred or violence against religious believers with a subjective criterion that considers whether the religion or its believers feel offended by the speech," said a brief by the European Center for Law and Justice. Felice Gaer, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan federal body that investigates abuses, said, "We are seeing a clear attempt by OIC countries to mainstream the concept and insert it into just about every other topic they can....They are turning freedom of expression into restriction of expression." U.S. officials working on human rights said the resolution is being used to justify harsh blasphemy laws in countries such as Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan and Afghanistan.
2008-09-03 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive