UN Blasphemy Law Would Make Religious Disagreements a Crime
The United Nations is in danger of creating a global blasphemy law that would make religious criticism a crime, charges a new report from the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU). “Speaking Freely About Religion: Religious Freedom, Defamation and Blasphemy” has been issued as the UN General Assembly begins to consider a new resolution against “defamation of religions.”

[Subtitled video now available] In a speech to the 12th session of the Human Rights Council on 16 September, IHEU representative Roy Brown called on the Council to do more to combat violence and discrimination against religious minorities, citing the recent murders of Christians in Pakistan, Somalia and Nigeria, the still unresolved massacre of Muslims in Gujerat, and mob violence against the Muslim Uighurs in China earlier this year. He also criticized non-violent discrimination practiced in many Western countries against religious minorities. He reminded delegates that it is individuals, believers and non-believers that have human rights - not their religions or beliefs.

On 16 June, during the general debate on racism at the Human Rights Council, the Pakistani delegate Muhammad Saeed Sarwar, speaking on behalf of the Islamic States, claimed that the defamation of Islam under the guise of freedom of expression is a new and contemporary form of discrimination, intolerance and xenophobia. When the adjourned debate continued on the morning of 17 June, Roy Brown responded on behalf of IHEU:

IHEU representative Cathy Buchs today [8 June 2009] defended Freedom of Expression during a general debate at the 11th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. IHEU applauded the report to the Council by UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Frank La Rue, in which he had advised the Council and the UN General Assembly to desist from further statements regarding defamation of religion. Video and the full text of the IHEU statement are available here.

IHEU has strongly condemned the execution of children in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen and Pakistan and the practice of child marriage. In a statement to the annual meeting on the Rights of the Child held at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, IHEU called the continuation of child marriage "a disgrace" and judicial killing of children "the ultimate barbarity".

In a joint statement with Center for Inquiry, IHEU has condemned abuses of women's human rights, including child marriage and "honour" killings, especially in Pakistan and Iran. IHEU also attacked the culture of censorship that now prevails in the Human Rights Council.

Pakistan has told the European Union that more attacks on EU diplomatic missions abroad cannot be ruled out unless the European Union represses freedom of expression, The Daily Times of Pakistan reports.

A representative of Pakistan, in an astonishing intervention at the United Nations Human Rights Council, has claimed that "It is insulting for our faith to discuss Shari'a here in this forum". The intervention, which was made as a "point of order" during an IHEU statement to the Council, can be viewed on video here.

Islam is an unchallengeable entity in all spheres of life in Pakistan. No laws or phenomena that contradict Islamic Law are given validation. LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People) rights are not supported by any political or humanitarian party that does not value self destruction.

Matt Cherry, IHEU representative at the UN New York, and chair of the UN NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion and Belief has called on Pakistan to release immediately from detention Asma Jahangir, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief.