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The Freedom of Expression pressure group Article 19 has expressed concern that the Irish blasphemy legislation is being used by Islamic countries to demand an international “defamation of religion” law. (khmerlover.org)
The submissions on defamation of religions brought by Pakistan on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) before the UN Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of Complementary Standards (Ad Hoc Committee) adopted the exact wording of the provisions of Irish legislation on blasphemous libel contained in that country’s Defamation Act, passed in July 2009.
This clearly shows that the Irish legislation is being used to legitimise the proposals of Pakistan and the OIC to establish defamation of religion as a principle of international law.
The Ad Hoc Committee is mandated to “elaborate, as a matter of priority and necessity, complementary standards in the form of either a convention or additional protocol(s) to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, filling the existing gaps in the Convention, and also providing new normative standards aimed at combating all forms of contemporary racism, including incitement to racial and religious hatred” (Human Rights Council resolution 6/21).
Pakistan and the OIC seek to establish defamation of religions as a new normative standard. The Irish Defamation Act 2009 has also reintroduced the offence of blasphemous libel this year. This represents a dangerous trend towards the standardisation of blasphemous libel internationally.
FULL STORY
Irish blasphemy law being used as a lever by Islamic countries (khmerlover.org)
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