The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) representing the 56 Islamic States renewed its attack on the Universality of Human Rights at the 6th Session of the Human Rights Council that ended on 14 December.

On Human Rights Day, 10 December, Ambassador Masood Khan, speaking on behalf of the OIC, claimed that the 1990 Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam

“.. is not an alternative, competing worldview on human rights. It complements the Universal Declaration as it addresses religious and cultural specificity of the Muslim countries”.

IHEU has followed up its presentation to the Council of Europe’s San Marino conference “The religious dimension of intercultural dialogue” with a massive written submission containing 40 specific recommendations. The paper was prepared in conjunction with the UK National Secular Society. It is also available in the original form, complete with contents and footnotes, as a PDF file for download below.

Speaking at the United Nations Human Rights Council, IHEU has called for a clear distinction to be drawn between protection for the rights of believers and attempts to protect ideas, beliefs and practices from legitimate criticism.

In the "interactive dialogue" following a presentation on Freedom of Religion or Belief by Special Rapporteur, Asma Jahangir, IHEU defended freedom of expression and highlighted the distinction between protection for the rights of believers, and illegitimate attempts to protect ideas, beliefs and practices from valid criticism.

International Humanist and Ethical Union
World Population Foundation

Human Rights Council, Fourth Session 14 - 30 March 2007
Statement by IHEU main representative, Roy W. Brown, 29 March 2007

Defamation of Religions

Mr President.

In its submission on Combating Defamation of Religions to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva IHEU has damned the current process at the UN as "unnecessary, flawed and morally wrong". In the submission, IHEU affirms that each individual should be absolutely free to form, hold or change his or her beliefs and condemns any attempts at stereotyping of religions, racial profiling of individuals, and any and all calls for violence in the name of religion or God. IHEU also expresses deep concerned that the exercise to combat ‘defamation of religions' could compromise established freedoms including freedom of expression, freedom of conscience and freedom of religion.

Resolutions on Defamation of Religion (originally "Defamation of Islam") were adopted by the former UN Commission on Human Rights in 1999 and every year until its abolition in 2006. The IHEU submission says that the very concept of ‘defamation of religion’ is flawed, since it is individuals, both believers and non-believers alike, who have rights, not religions.

The fourth session of the new Human Rights Council was held in Geneva from 12 to 30 March 2007, but high hopes that the Council would find a way forward on Darfur were dashed when the Council declined to act on the report of a High-Level Mission to Darfur led by Nobel prizewinner Jodie Williams because of obstruction by the Sudanese government. And the Council further reverted to type when Pakistan pushed through a resolution “combating Defamation of Religions” against numerous objections from the western democracies.

In a statement to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, IHEU has condemned attempts to stifle legitimate criticism of religion and academic research into religious history and custom on the grounds of supposed “defamation of religion”, in particular the resolutions on “Combating Defamation of Religions” passed at the Human Rights Commission from 1999 to 2005.

In a statement to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, IHEU has condemned attempts to stifle legitimate criticism of religion and academic research into religious history and custom on the grounds of supposed "defamation of religion", in particular the resolutions on "Combating Defamation of Religions" passed at the Human Rights Commission from 1999 to 2005.

PRESS RELEASE - For Immediate Release
Palais des Nations, Geneva, 23 August 2005

In the latest step in a long-running campaign at the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva by three NGOs: the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), the Association for World Education (AWE) and the Association of World Citizens (AWC), the IHEU today condemned as "gratuitously insulting" an oral statement made by Pakistani's Ambassador to the UN on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic States (OIC), and issued a detailed rebuttal.