UN 'defamation of religion' proposal

When Mouse first heard about this story, it was in the context that the British Humanist Association were opposing something. Mouse therefore instinctively thought that whatever was being proposed was probably a good idea. However, upon investigation this looks like a very worrying development, and Mouse will be agreeing with the BHA.

A United Nations forum, the UN Human Rights Council, has adopted a non-binding resolution which condemns 'defamation of religion' as a human rights abuse, on a par with religious persecution. This is being sold as part of the balancing act between freedom of speech on the one hand and protecting people from gross offence on the other. However, it seems that in reality the proposal came from Pakistan, whose record on religious freedom is patchy to say the least, and was voted for en mass by Muslim countries keen to introduce the concept that insulting Islam is an offence.

A similar proposal was drafted for the UN conference on racism, known as Durban II, but was withdrawn after western countries refused to consider it. The conference itself was widely considered to be a bit of a joke after they allowed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak.

There seems little chance of this concept going much further, as it is totally unacceptable to most western and European countries. According to Reuters,

Germany said on behalf of the European Union that while instances of Islamophobia, Christianophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms of religious discrimination should be taken seriously, it was "problematic to reconcile the notion of defamation (of religion) with the concept of discrimination."

"The European Union does not see the concept of defamation of religion as a valid one in a human rights discourse," it said. "The European Union believes that a broader, more balanced and thoroughly rights-based text would be best suited to address the issues underlying this draft resolution."

However, the development is interesting for a number of reasons. However, the conclusion Mouse has drawn is that in the face of a united front from the European Union and almost all other western countries, the British Humanist Association still think they need to chip in.