Photo courtesy OIC
An emergency meeting of the Executive Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Sunday condemned last week’s desecration of copies of the Quran in Sweden and reiterated calls for collective global action to promote tolerance, peace and dialogue among all peoples.
A man burned a copy of the Quran outside Stockholm’s central mosque last week on the first day of Eidul Azha. This drew outrage from OIC member Turkey, who has pledged to block Sweden’s bid to enter the NATO military alliance in light of this provocation. Swedish police had initially granted permission for the protest to take place, but has since charged the man who burned the Quran with agitation against an ethnic or national group.
In a statement issued after the meeting of the 57-member body, the OIC cited various U.N. resolutions, as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and expressed “grave concern” at the “increasing incidences of intolerance, discrimination, and acts of violence in the world.” It further noted that Islamophobia was on the rise globally and pointed to the increasing number of incidents of religious intolerance, negative stereotypes, hatred, and violence against Muslims.
Stressing that the OIC was “deeply concerned” by the resurgence of racist movements and far-right extremism, it condemned any advocacy of hatred that incited discrimination, hostility, or violence through any means and stressed that dialogue, understanding, and cooperation among religions, cultures, and civilizations was the best way to confront hate speech, fanaticism, extremism, violence, and incitement.
While condemning the desecration of copies of the Quran, it regretted that the incident had occurred after authorities issued a permit allowing it to occur. Urging the OIC secretary general to send a letter on behalf of all member states to Swedish government, it said both Stockholm and the European Union Commission should be called on take necessary measures to prevent any recurrence of such criminal acts under the pretext of freedom of expression. Calling on the global community to stand against such provocation, it condemned all attempts to denigrate the sanctity of the Quran as well as other sacred values and symbols of Islam under the garb of freedom of expression.
“We must send constant reminders to the international community regarding the urgent application of international law, which clearly prohibits any advocacy of religious hatred,” said OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha.
The OIC statement invited ambassadors of OIC member states in states where such inciting incidents occur to work collectively to express the OIC’s stance and to induce the relevant authorities to take necessary legislative actions to criminalize such attacks. It further called on Muslim civil society organizations to work with their counterparts in such countries to resort to local courts and exhaust domestic remedies, with the guidance of professional legal counsel, before taking their cases to international judiciary bodies, where applicable. It also called on the OIC’s secretary-general to send a letter to the U.N. secretary-general and chair of the Security Council and seek statements of condemnation to reject insults to religious symbols and sanctities.
Pakistan last week, strongly condemned the “despicable act” of the public burning of a copy of the Quran. “Such willful incitement to discrimination, hatred and violence cannot be justified under the pretext of freedom of expression and protest,” read a statement issued by the Foreign Office, which stressed that international law binds all states to ensure prevention of any advocacy of “religious hatred” that leads to incitement of violence.
“The recurrence of such Islamophobic incidents during the last few months in the West calls into serious question the legal framework which permits such hate-driven actions,” it said, while reiterating that the right to freedom of expression and opinion does not provide a license to stoke hatred and sabotage inter-faith harmony.