• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

United Nations Human Rights Council ““ Geneva: Ongoing absurd and ludicrous challenges of “˜Freedom of Expression”

Apr 19, 2008 8:44 am By Robert Spencer

Comments on the attempts to muzzle NGOs at the 7th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (4–28 March 2008) by David G. Littman, NGO Representative in Geneva of the Association for World Education (AWE) & World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ):

On March 13, Roy W. Brown, speaking on behalf of the International Humanist and Ethical Union and the Association for World Education on threats to “˜freedom of expression”, was stopped several times by member States of the Organization of the Islamic Conference on “˜points of order”. You can read his report here or here.

On March 25, the subject of Tibet was in the news, but every mention of Tibet during the general debate was challenged by China — on the spurious grounds that country situations were irrelevant to item 8, then being debated. The Association for World Education had accredited Mme. Claude B. Levenson — a world expert who had just published a book on Tibet — to speak on that ongoing tragedy. But the president of the HRC finally had no alternative, after almost 20 interruptions by China and other States, to ask all representatives — particularly NGOs — to keep off the subject of Tibet. The moment Mme. Levenson mentioned the word “Tibet” the president stopped her and gave the floor to the next speaker.

After the plenary meeting the President of the Council, Romanian Ambassador Doru Romulus Costea, called a meeting with NGOs (6:00–7:00pm) to explain these problems. There were many questions and warnings by very concerned key NGOs. Just before the close, we asked the president twice to be our “˜watchman” (as in the Book of Ezechiel, ch. 33), and blow the trumpet loud and clear, so that such debilitating tactics would not become a precedent the next day, under item 9 (racism), when we would be speaking on certain taboo subjects. The president then made it very clear that he would do everything to protect the inherent “˜freedom of expression” of all NGOs.

The next morning I spoke on behalf of the Association for World Education, under item 9: Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Forms of Intolerance. The attempts to muzzle me by the Egyptian, Palestinian and Iranian delegates were hilarious and the whole 12 minutes has been reproduced, with each “˜point of order” reproduced as spoken in broken English. This farce may be viewed on the UN video. See: rtsp://webcast.un.org/ondemand/conferences/unhrc/seventh/hrc080326am-eng.rm?start=01:16:448 end=01:28:32. As can be seen and read below, President Costea kept his promise to protect NGO rights.

An hour later I spoke again for the World Union for Progressive Judaism on a similar theme under item 9. On that occasion, there were no interruptions from any Council member, using a “˜point of order”. See: rtsp://webcast.un.org/ondemand/conferences/unhrc/seventh/hrc080326am-eng.rm?start=01:57:338end= 02:01:14. Both texts are reproduced below as they were spoken — and with the verbatim interruptions.

Statement to Human Rights Council by David G. Littman for the Association for World Education (March 26)

The Council should condemn calls to kill in the name of God or religion — any religion Preaching & teaching of hate and Judeophobia / Antisemitism: endemic in Muslim countries

[Reduced passages in brackets were not pronounced in the 3 minutes, but are left for documentation]

[Everything in italics has been transcribed verbatim direct from the video, exactly as spoken in English by the five speakers. The five interruptions on a “˜point of order” are indicated with an asterisk in brackets]

Sir, regarding the Report [A/HRC/7/19] of the Special Rapporteur on Racism [Mr. Doudou Diène] and his comments on defamation of religion, we note that once again he has failed to mention the greatest of all defamations of religion — when chapter and verse of holy texts are cited to justify calls to kill in the name of God or of Allah. On the 9th August 2007, we made an Appeal to the UN Secretary-General and the High Commissioner — and later to the Council “to condemn all calls to kill in the name of God or religion — any religion.” [joint written statement to 6th Session by AWE, IHEU, AWC) — A/HRC/6/NGO/5: Appeal to Condemn Calls to Kill in the name of God]: (*) (**) (***)

———————————————————————————————————————-

President: We have a “˜point of order” requested by the delegation of Egypt. You have the floor, Sir.

Egypt (improvisation in English): Thank you, Mr. President. I”m sorry for interrupting the meeting, but I just want to make sure — since I was not here in January 24 — if the speaker is “¦ just being given the floor is the same speaker who said”¦ replying to the president”¦ who said: That there is “¦ “something is rooten in the state of this Council.” [in reading the quotation from our statement, Egypt’s delegate pronounced the word “rooten”, instead of “rotten.” No on could understand this subtlety.] So, if he would just please check if this is the same speaker who insulted the Council and its president “¦ who was just given the floor. Thank you.

The reference was to the 24 January 2008 oral statement (titled: The Gaza Strip: in the grip of a criminal Hamas regime with its racist, genocidal, jihadist Charter), delivered on behalf of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) to the HRC 6th Special Session — on Gaza. The President interrupted after our 1st paragraph: “Sir, in order to understand the Palestinian self-inflicted tragedy in the Gaza Strip, there is an urgent need to reconsider the basic implications of the binding, genocidal HAMAS Charter, concerning which we have been warning Human Rights bodies, High Commissioners and Special Rapporteurs for 20 years — all to no effect. We first warned of the HAMAS menace at the 45th session of the Commission on Human Rights on 31 January 1989.” A 2nd time came after the request: “May this Human Rights Council and all UN bodies utterly condemn Hamas and its evil Charter.” Abridging the statement, we then concluded with the final line — the president had a copy of the statement — “Sir, there is a general malaise in the air, a feeling that: “Something is rotten in the State of this Council.” [Hamlet metaphor: “Something is rotten in the State of Denmark.”]

President: I notice that the distinguished representative of Palestine has asked for the floor.

Palestine (improvisation in English): Yes, thank you Mr. President. My delegation would like to fully endorse what has been said by Egypt and again we would like to express our shock to the permission given to a distinguished representative of an NGO again to address this respectful place. Thank you.

President: Any other demands for the floor. It doesn’t seem to be the case. Let me recall that the NGO that we are talking about does have a consultative status. It [AWE] is in full observance of the rules of accreditation. Consequently, it [AWE] has the right to take the floor as per our rules of procedure. You may continue, Sir.

David G. Littman: Thank you very much”¦.

President: Excuse me. A point of order? Yes, is that a question or a point of order? A point of order — you have the floor.

Egypt (agitated improvisation in English): I will not prolong this discussion. It’s not working anyway. I”m just wondering how can we give the floor to somebody who has insulted the Council. It doesn’t matter if an organization has a status or not. I worked in the Committee of NGOs for four years and I know how statuses are given. Can you get the status and then you proceed to do whatever you do with the status to insult the Council and its members? I don’t think we can do this. Mr. President, I don’t think that such a speaker should be allowed to insult the Council. These are insults to the Civil Society “¦ at all, not only the Council. But again, it is not worth it. I leave it to you, Mr. President.

President: Thank you. Of course, matters of what NGOs can participate or not in the debate or discussion of a UN body are, as mentioned here, decided elsewhere. Under the circumstances, I think that, unless otherwise decided, we will continue to listen to the statements that are presented by the NGOs that fall within this category. I hope I”m quite clear about that. Number 2 — I would like to call on all the delegations to express restraint in their statements. Let me repeat — I would like to invite all delegations to express restraint in their statements, all delegations! And number 3 — I would also invite all speakers to bear in mind that this is an organization belonging to the UN where we are supposed to address issues which we may not agree upon, but where we have, we must, address these issues with respect to the opinions of the others. I would like also to encourage the present audience to abide by the laws of decency and readiness to listen to others express opinions, as against respective statements, in a manner that will befit this building and this institution. I certainly hope that we will be able to continue in this atmosphere. Thank you. I give the floor to the representative of the Association for World Education.

———————————————————————————————————————–

David G. Littman: Mr. President — “For this relief much thanks.” [Hamlet, I: i., 8]

This taboo subject is consistently ignored within the UN system despite the fact that a policy of silence on the part of the international community, of Muslim spiritual and secular leaders, the OIC and the Arab League, is tantamount to condoning this great evil. Calls to kill in the name of Allah should be unequivocally condemned by senior Muslim theologians as a “defamation of Islam”. Yet these calls have been justified by Al-Azhar Grand Sheik Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, by Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradhawi, and by many others, including Osama bin Laden. The Special Rapporteur makes no clear (****) reference to this global plague of our time, [other than by a side reference to: “the stereotyped association of Islam with violence and terrorism — an association which is bolstered by intellectual constructs, used by political rhetoric and exaggerated in the media”¦” (§57)]

————————————————————————————————————————————————

President: Excuse me, I have a point of order at the demand of the distinguished delegation of Egypt. You have the floor, Sir.

Egypt: (extremely agitated improvisation in English): Thank you, Mr. President. I have no intention of assisting the speaker to find his way to the front pages of the newspapers. This is what he is after, but I will not accept that the Sheikh of Al-Azhar is mentioned in the same sentence with Osama bin Laden. This I will not accept. I don’t care how much donations he is after, but this I will not accept — as simple as that. Sheikh Al-Azhar is the head of the most prestigious and august Islamic university in the world. It has been there for 1100 years”¦ that promoting Islam all over the world. You can not mention him with bin Laden in the same sentence. Thank you.

President: Thank you. I give the floor back to the speaker.

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Secondly, the Special Rapporteur refers to “the writing and teaching of history” [Summary, p. 2]: “the importance of fostering education in multiculturalism in schools, in the media and in the home.” [§31, “Human Rights and Children” at the Fourth International Human Rights Forum in Lucerne, 24-25 May 2007; and, “the role of education in promoting tolerance and coexistence and cooperation between Muslims and non-Muslims.” §36, “to consider the question of discrimination against Muslims”¦”, in Jaén, Spain, 8 Oct. 2007]

Yet Judeophobia / Antisemitism — under the guise of “˜anti-Zionism” — is now widely recognised as endemic in the Muslim world, being nourished by a general culture of hate, and is creeping into Europe and beyond. Clearly many of the States that, since 1999, have sponsored the resolution combating defamation of religion — adopted on the 18th December 2007 by the General Assembly — do not believe it applies to them!
A recognised expert on racism, the Director of Research at the CNRS in Paris, Pierre-André Taguieff has described all this in detail in two recent voluminous books [La Nouvelle Judéophobia (Paris, 2002) and, Prêcheurs de haine: Traversée de la judéophobie planétaire (Paris, 2004)].

In 2005, we analysed in three NGO written statements what is being taught to schoolchildren in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. [E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/NGO/2: The culture of “˜Jihad and Martyrdom” in Egyptian school textbooks, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/NGO/3: The culture of hate in Saudi Arabian textbooks & growing Arab reactions: and Arab criticisms: E/CN.4/Sub.2/NGO/4; also, an article: “A Culture of Hate Based “˜Jihad and Martyrdom”: Saudi and Egyptian Schoolbooks Today”, Midstream, March-April 2005.] The same hatred is also being taught in Palestinian, Syrian and Iranian schools and elsewhere. [In his conclusion, “The Special Rapporteur recommends that the Council draw the attention of member States to the importance of developing an intellectual front against racism and, consequently combating — through education, scientific research and information — ideas, concepts and images likely to incite or legitimize racism, racial discrimination or xenophobia.” This appeal should be heeded here by the Council — and by the Special Rapporteur.]

Nothing of this outrageous Judeophobia has been covered in reports of the Special Rapporteur, nor by any UN bodies (*****) or UNESCO.

—————————————————————————————————————————

President: Excuse me, Sir, there is a point of order raised by the distinguished delegate of Iran.

Iran (in English): Thank you, Mr. President. As far as I understand, we are”¦we have a general debate on item 9 of the agenda and it’s focusing on the Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Forms of Intolerance. It seems that the speaker, in his statement, is focusing on Islam and some Islamic countries by insulting them, so I request you, Mr. President, to draw his attention to the topic under discussion. I would appreciate that. Thank you, Mr. President.

President: Thank you. I have made a statement some five minutes earlier. I am not going to repeat it. I would also encourage delegations that may have other opinions than those presented by speakers to recall that there is a method, there is a way of acting on it, and that is to exercise a “˜right of reply” when the time is”¦ comes for that. We have never, ever, in this Council, denied this right to anyone.

You have the floor, Sir.

————————————————————————————————————————-

Yet the proof of this endemic hate-mongering is easily available in original texts and translations by consulting websites such as MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute), PMW (Palestinian Media Watch) and CMIP (Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace).

To conclude Mr. President, is this Human Rights Council now ready to condemn calls to kill in the name of God, and the preaching and teaching of hate, or will it remain silent on such major issues for humanity?

Thank you very much, Mr. President.

* * * * *

Statement to Human Rights Council by David G. Littman for the World Union for Progressive Judaism (March 26)

Subject: Multireligious Appeal to condemn all calls for any violence and hate in the name of God

The Council on Human Rights should develop a code of guidelines for access to HRC membership

[Reduced passages in brackets were not pronounced in the 3 minutes, but were left for documentation]

Mr. President, in section: C. Religious Intolerance, of his Report [A/HRC/7/19], the Special Rapporteur on Racism does not come to grips with the real problem of indiscriminate killing in the name of God. [He refers to the dangers of “the stereotypical association of Islam with violence and terrorism.” He then goes on to stress “the growing trend of defamation of religions”; “a clash of religions”; “the fight against terrorism, reduced to its purely religious dimensions” and a new ideology providing “fertile soil for the defamation of religions”.]

Five years ago [on 17 March 2003], the late High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira De Mello, made his opening address to the Commission’s 59th session. He expressed his strong revulsion against the growing global terrorist plague whereby: anyone could be killed at any time, in any place, by anyone. Five months later, he and over 20 of his UN colleagues were assassinated in Baghdad when indiscriminate terrorism struck, leaving many widows and orphans. And indiscriminate killing in the name of religion continues without respite worldwide.

At that same session, on 25 March 2003, Rabbi François Garaï, the main representative of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, cited the 1999 Promulgation of the Geneva Spiritual Appeal and its 2003 Confirmation at St. Peter’s Cathedral, Geneva, and he then declared:

“We see currently that religions and the One whom we name God, are taken hostage in the political discourse and defamed. Those engaged in this action cannot hold prisoner the One whom we consider as our Creator and the source of all Revelation, who cannot be confined in a simple word, in writing, even less in a slogan.”

He referred to an Appeal made three days earlier — on 22 March 2003– when Christians, Jews and Muslims declared in Geneva’s St Peter’s Cathedral:

Together, we denounce all reference to God to justify and foster hatred.
Together, we appeal to resist all use of this conflict to bring communities into confrontation.
Together, we wish to consolidate community and religious peace.
Together, we bear witness to our hope and our faith in God.

Rabbi Garaï added: “We await the day when religion will no longer be subverted, nor God taken hostage by political, civil or religious leaders.”

The WUPJ once again calls upon this Council — and in particular the sponsors of any resolution on “˜Combating defamation of religions” — to insert two major paragraphs in that text:

(a) Strongly deplores all references to God in order to justify any form of violence, hatred, and the use of any religious motive to kill civilians: men, women and children;
(b) Condemns all who blaspheme and defame religion by claiming to kill in the name of God.

Sir, we wish to conclude by a homage to Sergio by quoting an apposite passage from §5 of his groundbreaking Report [E/CN.4/2003/14], which remains pertinent for this Council:

“Membership of the Commission on Human Rights must carry responsibilities. I therefore wonder whether the time has not come for the Commission itself to develop a code of guidelines for access to membership of the Commission and a code of conduct for members while they serve on the Commission. After all the Commission on Human Rights has a duty to humanity and the members of the Commission must themselves set the example of adherence to the international human rights norms — in practice as well as in law”¦”

His courageous words five years ago apply to this Council — yesterday, today and for tomorrow.

Thank you, Mr. President

[E/CN.4/NGO/88: Human Rights and Terrorism: The most essential & basic human right is the right to life]
————————————————————————————————————————

N.B. This initiative of Sergio Vieira De Mello is being applied for the first time this year for 16 Member States of the Human Rights Council, of which five are members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. An attempt was made by the OIC, the Arab League and the African Union to limit public access to these enquiries by forbidding the customary UN video of all events — it failed.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: Uncategorized


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • Crusades Were Right on Muslim cleric: ‘We welcomed the takeover of ISIS because they wanted to implement the Sharia’
  • curious george on Israel At A Crossroads?
  • Crusades Were Right on Muslim cleric: ‘We welcomed the takeover of ISIS because they wanted to implement the Sharia’
  • William Garrison on The Fantasy Islam of Rice University’s Craig Considine (Part 3)
  • Vladimir on Islamic Republic of Iran: Turkey’s Erdogan champions Islam only as a tool to further his own interests

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.