The Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights (JBI) expressed regret that on December 21, the 65th United Nations General Assembly once again adopted a resolution on “combating defamation of religions.” JBI has expressed serious concern about efforts to enshrine “defamation of religions” in human rights law as a form of incitement. The draft resolution on “combating defamation of religions” endorsed by the General Assembly on December 21, in which the phrase “vilification of religions, and incitement to religious hatred in general,” appears six times, reflects these concerns.
JBI has noted that the resolution’s effort to expand the definition of “incitement to religious hatred” to include “defamation of religions” threatens to render laws prohibiting blasphemy and other forms of religious insult defensible, or even commendable, under human rights law. These laws are highly susceptible to abuse by governments, particularly against members of religious minority communities.
However, JBI is encouraged that the “combating defamation of religions” resolution adopted on December 21 was adopted by the smallest margin – 79 states in favor and 67 opposed – of any of the series of “defamation of religions” resolutions that the UN has considered since states began introducing resolutions on the issue in 1999. JBI encouraged states that oppose the “defamation of religions” initiative at the UN to increase their diplomatic efforts vis-à-vis the 40 states that abstained from the vote so that the next such resolution proposed before a UN body – which likely will be considered by the Human Rights Council in March – will be rejected.
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