Amid the ongoing
international debate as to where the proper line lies between the
responsible use and irresponsible abuse of freedom of expression, one
can hardly deny the fact that indeed there are obstacles to freedom of
expression.
After a decade of arduous debates
and negotiations among states and within their respective civil
societies, the international community reached a consensus on this
matter, and adopted the Human Rights Council Resolution 16/18 in April
of last year. Similarly, the 193-member UN General Assembly cast its
support for this historic consensus in November of the same year.
However, there are still two obstacles that seem to be hindering the
international community’s ability to put in practice the provisions of
that resolution in a way that would counter incitement of hatred,
violence and discrimination against persons on the basis of their
religion, belief or opinion, without restricting freedom of expression.These are the demagogues who exploit the popular fears and frustrations for their narrow political gains, and the opportunists who hijack a genuine human rights debate to demonize Islam and Muslims. The common characteristic of these two is that they have vested interest in perpetuating the crisis over the issue of freedom of expression, as well as the hostile atmosphere it generates. As such, these demagogues and opportunists join hands in manufacturing continuous cacophony in order to prevent the general public from objectively evaluating HRC Resolution 16/18 for what it really is and in persistently defaming the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) as a radical Islamist organization waging war against Western civilization.
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