UN resolution claims damaging holy books violates international law

RELIGIOUS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – A UN resolution has claimed “acts of violence” against religious texts are “in violation of international law”.

“Secularism” reported the resolution, entitled “Promoting interreligious and intercultural dialogue and tolerance in countering hate speech”, was published by the UN General Assembly this month.

The resolution also stressed the importance of working towards an “internationally agreed definition of hate speech that can help in countering it”.

UN Human Rights Council

Last month, the UN Human Rights Council passed a separate resolution to criminalise the burning of the Quran, “or any other holy book”.

The resolution was introduced by Pakistan on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which has long supported efforts to curtail ‘blasphemous’ speech.

The OIC is an intergovernmental organisation of 57 states and claims to be the “collective voice of the Muslim world”. Although it stopped explicitly campaigning for a global blasphemy law in 2011, it has repeatedly spearheaded attempts to install “backdoor” blasphemy laws.

Both resolutions follow a series of Quran burnings in Sweden and Denmark.

The Swedish embassy in Baghdad was stormed by protestors last month following the burnings.