JBI congratulates US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the US delegation to the UN Human Rights Council for successfully pressing for the adoption of several positive measures by the Council at its recent session, which concluded Friday, March 25. In a speech at the Council’s opening on February 28, Secretary Clinton pressed the Council to appoint a Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran and to move beyond its focus on “defamation of religions.” This week, following further active diplomacy by the US, the Council created the special post on Iran and, for the first time, refrained from adopting a “defamation of religions” resolution. These changes follow the Council’s historic decision at a special session on February 25 to recommend that that the General Assembly suspend Libya’s membership on the Council in response to the Libyan authorities’ commission of gross and systematic violations of human rights.
The Council’s adoption, by a significant margin, of the resolution establishing a new Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, which was co-sponsored by the United States and Sweden, marked the first instance in which the Council has authorized a new rapporteur mandate since its creation in 2006. Its predecessor, the Commission on Human Rights, appointed a number of country-specific investigators, including a special representative on Iran from 1984-2002. This measure reflects a much-needed return to targeted investigations in countries in which a pattern of gross human rights abuses exists.
In a significant departure from past practice, the Council also did not consider or adopt a resolution on so-called “defamation of religions.” In the past, the Council has annually adopted such resolutions – which justify the imposition of blasphemy laws and other restrictions on speech that is allegedly “denigrates” Islam – at the initiative of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). At this 16th regular session of the Human Rights Council, the OIC put forward an alternative resolution that resulted from intensive negotiations with the US and the European Union and that significantly departs from the pernicious previous texts. The new resolution, which was adopted by consensus, makes no mention of “defamation,” condemns only denigration of individuals rather than ideas, and calls for states to take non-legal measures like education and awareness-building to combat religious intolerance, urging criminalization only in the case of “incitement to imminent violence.” JBI has long condemned the “defamation of religions” resolutions, including at expert discussions in October 2010 in New York and July 2009 in Geneva. JBI has also urged Member States of the Human Rights Council to be more effective in efforts to improve the body’s performance.
Download Alternative OIC Resolution
JBI encourages the US government to continue its efforts to improve the Council and to press other Member States to address the remaining serious obstacles to its effective performance more vigorously.
JBI congratulates US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the US delegation to the UN Human Rights Council for successfully pressing for the adoption of several positive measures by the Council at its recent session, which concluded Friday, March 25. In a speech at the Council’s opening on February 28, Secretary Clinton pressed the Council to appoint a Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran and to move beyond its focus on “defamation of religions.” This week, following further active diplomacy by the US, the Council created the special post on Iran and, for the first time, refrained from adopting a “defamation of religions” resolution. These changes follow the Council’s historic decision at a special session on February 25 to recommend that that the General Assembly suspend Libya’s membership on the Council in response to the Libyan authorities’ commission of gross and systematic violations of human rights.
The Council’s adoption, by a significant margin, of the resolution establishing a new Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, which was co-sponsored by the United States and Sweden, marked the first instance in which the Council has authorized a new rapporteur mandate since its creation in 2006. Its predecessor, the Commission on Human Rights, appointed a number of country-specific investigators, including a special representative on Iran from 1984-2002. This measure reflects a much-needed return to targeted investigations in countries in which a pattern of gross human rights abuses exists.
In a significant departure from past practice, the Council also did not consider or adopt a resolution on so-called “defamation of religions.” In the past, the Council has annually adopted such resolutions – which justify the imposition of blasphemy laws and other restrictions on speech that is allegedly “denigrates” Islam – at the initiative of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). At this 16th regular session of the Human Rights Council, the OIC put forward an alternative resolution that resulted from intensive negotiations with the US and the European Union and that significantly departs from the pernicious previous texts. The new resolution, which was adopted by consensus, makes no mention of “defamation,” condemns only denigration of individuals rather than ideas, and calls for states to take non-legal measures like education and awareness-building to combat religious intolerance, urging criminalization only in the case of “incitement to imminent violence.” JBI has long condemned the “defamation of religions” resolutions, including at expert discussions in October 2010 in New York and July 2009 in Geneva. JBI has also urged Member States of the Human Rights Council to be more effective in efforts to improve the body’s performance.
JBI encourages the US government to continue its efforts to improve the Council and to press other Member States to address the remaining serious obstacles to its effective performance more vigorously.
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