IslamOnline.net & News Agencies
GENEVA — The UN Human Rights Council passed late on Thursday, March 27, a resolution deploring the use of the media to blemish the image of Islam, hinting at a string of recent incidents that targeted the divine faith.
The council’s resolution denounced using the media to “incite acts of violence, xenophobia or related intolerance and discrimination towards Islam,” reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The document, which was put forward by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, “expresses deep concern at attempts to identify Islam with terrorism, violence and human rights violations.“
The resolution was adopted by 21 of the council’s 47 member states, while 14 abstained and 10 states objected.
A recent British study accused the media and film industry of perpetuating Islamophobia and prejudice by demonizing Muslims and Arabs as violent, dangerous and threatening people.
Famed US academic Stephen Schwartz had also criticized the Western media for failing to meet the challenge of reporting on Islam after 9/11.
And Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the president of the US largest Jewish movement, has accused US media and politicians of demonizing Islam and portraying Muslims as “satanic figures.”
Dutch private and state channels decided earlier this month not to show a controversial anti-Qur’an documentary produced by far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders, who had not option but to post it on a video-sharing website.
A US-based web service has also suspended the site originally dedicated for displaying the documentary after receiving Muslim complaints.
Laws
The resolution called on member states to adopt laws that would protect religions against blasphemy.
It also “urges states to take actions to prohibit the dissemination … of racist and xenophobic ideas” and material that would incite to religious hatred.
The motion, expressed “grave concern at the recent serious instances of deliberate stereotyping of religions, their adherents and sacred persons in the media and by political parties and groups in some societies, and at the associated provocation and political exploitation.”
The pressure to protect religions from defamation has been growing ever since Danish newspaper Jyallands Posten published late in 2005 caricatures that lampooned Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
Several European and Danish newspapers had since then reprinted the offensive cartoons under the pretext of freedom of expression.
The publication of the offensive cartoons had triggered an international call from scholars, priests and rabbis n the UN Security Council to criminalize blasphemy.
The UNHRC adopted last year a resolution condemning “defamation” of religion and stressing that press freedom had its limits.
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