ASSOCIATION FOR WORLD EDUCATION

UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL – Ninth Session
President of the Council: Ambassador Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi (Nigeria)
STATEMENT by Representative David G. Littman – Tuesday (am) 23 September 2008

Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and…Combating defamation of religions (item 9)

Thank you Mr. President.

On the subject of Racism, many may remember the words of contrition by former UNSG Kofi Annan on the genocide in Rwanda, delivered here on 7 April 2004 to the 59th Commission. Rwanda was a flagrant case of genocide, but also of racism and ethnic cleansing.

As an example, a similar horror is now taking place in a region of Africa known to all [Darfur] and this may well become a Council litmus test: Two months ago, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) filed a request for an indictment against the president of that State: for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. To those charges we would add the term ‘racism’.

Sir, we regret that the number of omissions on different forms of racism covered in the last Report of the Special Rapporteur cries out. “Islamophobia”, covering three pages, is again the main theme. “Christianophobia” only merits one page, and grave cases of xenophobia in the Arab-Muslim world are simply linked to “evangelical groups”, despite rampant discrimination and a mass Christian exodus from Middle Eastern countries, especially from Iraq.[1]

In his final report, Mr. Doudou Diène only touches on Antisemitism or “Judeophobia” in Europe and South America, referring vaguely to…. “Africa”. Yet, despite a mass of documentation, he makes no mention whatsoever of this endemic indigenous phenomenon in the Arab-Muslim world that is being nourished by a general ‘culture of hate’ steadily growing in Europe and beyond. It is confirmed by all reliable sources – very recently by the Pew Research Group.

As an example, sir, we have here a 12,000 word article – an English translation from Arabic – of a major work by Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi. It speaks volumes on The Children of Israel in the Qur’an and the Sunna.[2]

Point of Order by Egypt
Amr Roshdy Hassan: Mr. President, it is never my intention to dignify this statement with a comment. I just thought to share with the Council what the speaker has repeatedly said to our delegation that he is grateful for us…for drawing attention to his statements. That’s why his statements are being delivered – to get attention. And we all know what attention means and what for the attention….
Mr. President, here in the Council, we’re here to promote religious freedom. We can discuss religious freedom, but we cannot discuss religion. We cannot discuss the basic tenets of religion. I argue that except for the distinguished representative of the Holy See, nobody in this Council is qualified to discuss theology. So if we go in analysing the statements made by Sheikh Al-Azhar [Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi] – I don’t think the speaker or even me can make the analysis, and I don’t think this is a part of the item we are discussing today. And we have here… said repeatedly, and the next statement we have the same statement read before. We have heard the same, the same speaker three days ago calling this Council a Commission… so we are just recycling our old statements or redelivering the statements we delivered repeatedly.
Really we should find something more interesting to do in life – like find a hobby or grow a moustache or something. This will be beneficial, but we cannot tolerate this abuse of the time allocated to NGOs. We welcome NGO participation in the work of this Council, but we do not welcome anyone trying to waste our time. I am sorry, Mr. President, but I will have to insist that the statement just read is ‘out of order’.

The President:
I thank the distinguished representative of Egypt for his statement, and I would agree with you that we are not Imam, Bishop, Archbishop…except you wear the title. And I always, as a person and I’ve made this very clear from day one that I think we must learn to be humble and modest and professional in the way that we conduct our business. We cannot speak on a high moral pedestal and look and think that we are more human than the other person, and think that you hold a monopoly of knowledge and truth over matters that are entirely not within your own purview. So please, I would once again like to make it clear that we should try to treat each other with some respect, and we can afford to be decent, we can afford to be respectful of the beliefs and values of every single person in this hall. This is a human rights Council. It’s a Council dedicated to the protection and defence of every single individual in this hall. And as the distinguished [Archbishop] Desmond Tutu said the other day…we are not just... we are God-carriers – please, we carry God in our person , we carry dignity in our person; whether you are black, whether you are white, whether you are a man, whether you are a woman, whether you are abled, whether you are disabled is totally irrelevant .

So please, may I implore you once again, there is need for decency, there is need for decorum, there is need for respect & there’s need to treat me as you would like to treat yourself. I think this is the bottom line. This is not a new philosophy, this is not a new dogma; every culture on earth has this. It’s not the preserve of any one group or person or individual. And I hope, please, that we will regard this as a very humble contribution, and a view and a position which I take very seriously and very passionately. I thank you. – I give the floor back to the distinguished David Littman.

The Speaker:
Thank you, Mr. President, for your words of wisdom.
Clearly, many of the States that, since 1999, have co-sponsored the resolution ‘Combating defamation of religions’ overlook repeated cases where Islamic clerics defame other religions. A recent case is very typical & there was no apology after an …….

The President:

I’m afraid that I shall have to rule that “out of order”. And I give the floor next to the Cairo representative of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies.

Had he been able to complete his statement as prepared,
Littman would have continued:
A recent case is very typical and there was no apology after an Al-Jazeera TV interview with a prominent Egyptian geologist and cleric, Dr. Zaghloul Ragheb. His crude defamation of Judaism and Christianity on 9 Aug. was blatant. On 28 August, an indignant presenter on Al-Hayat TV criticized such double standards strongly: “If a Christian said similar things [about Islam], the next day he would be led to the slaughterhouse.”[3]

And there is no mention of the greatest of all defamations of religion – when chapter and verse of holy texts are cited by Jihadists to justify their calls to kill in the name of Allah and of Islam. Is it not high time for the OIC to insert into its next co-sponsored resolution: ‘Combating Defamation of Religions’ a single phrase: – “to condemn all calls to kill in the name of God or religion – any religion”? Not to do so, would send a serious negative image throughout the world.

[See our joint written statement: “Appeal to Condemn all calls to kill in the name of God” A/HRC/6/NGO/5]

Thank you, Mr. President.

[1] U.S. Dep. State: Int. Religious Freedom Report “Egypt” (19/9/2008): www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108481.htm
[2] [Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi,The Children of Israel in the Qur’an and the Sunna / Banu Isra’il fi al-Qur’an wa al-Sunna (Cairo: Zahraa’ lil-l’laam al-‘Arabi, 1986-87), pp. 107-26, 129-46), in Andrew G. Bostom (ed.) The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History, New York: Prometheus Books, 2008, pp. 33; pp. 391-401.
[3] http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1849.htm /http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD205508 – MEMRI Video and Special Dispatch Series - No. 2055, 18 September 2008].