At the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Tuesday, 15 April, states belonging to the Organisation of Islamic Conference demanded that Holland prosecute one of its MPs for "defamation of religion". The very next day, 16 April 2008, Keith Porteous Wood raised the alarm about the threats these nations are posing to freedom of expression in a speech in Brussels attended by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

For the past eleven years the organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), representing the 57 Islamic States, has been tightening its grip on the throat of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Yesterday, 28 March 2008, they finally killed it.

The Chinese delegation to the Human Rights Council succeeded in blocking all criticism of their actions in Tibet by invoking a series of 12 points of order during statements by the United States, Switzerland and Slovenia (for the European Union) while several states including Zimbabwe, Cuba and Pakistan raised points of order in favour of China. As the general debate degenerated, point of order followed point of order until the Chairman, Ambassador Costea of Romania called for a 10 minute adjournment to allow tempers to cool.

In a shocking affront to freedom of expression, the Government of Punjab, India, has banned four rationalist books and threatened legal action against the authors and translators, Tarksheel Society of Punjab reports. The supposed grounds for the ban is that the books are "incorrect literature" about Hindu deities.

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.

A video of the "ambush" of IHEU at last week's session of the United Nations Human Rights Council is now available.

In a follow-up to IHEU’s written statement to the UN Human Rights Council describing Islamic efforts to undermine the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Roy Brown, IHEU’s main representative at the UN in Geneva prepared an oral statement (below) for Council debate on 13 March 2008 but was prevented from giving it in full because of repeated objections from two Islamic delegations.

By using religion as a weapon, Reverend Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church embody the antithesis of the Humanist value of human dignity. Ironically, a recent jury verdict in Maryland may now turn him into a symbol for another important Humanist value: freedom of expression.

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.