Roberta Fedele Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — An international conference on religious freedom that aims to reject religious intolerance and strengthen the latest resolutions approved by the United Nation on this subject will be chaired Thursday by Italy and Jordan on the margins of the 67th UN General Assembly. The conference will be followed by the annual coordination meeting of Foreign Ministers from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Friday, which will discuss possible ways of preventing the escalating wave of incitement against Islam and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Since their arrival in New York on Sept. 24, heads of state and foreign ministers have dealt with important issues for the international community and have taken the opportunity within this unique platform to reiterate the necessity of collective action in promoting religious freedom, tolerance and respect for religious symbols and in finding ways of preventing the risks connected to the irresponsible abuse of freedom of expression. An urgent need for similar statements and actions is particularly evident in light of the escalation of violence, intolerance and cultural misunderstandings recently provoked by the production of a derogatory movie about Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Threatened by the prospect of an inauspicious clash of civilizations, leaders from the Western and Muslim world are jointly condemning this spiral of brutality, reasserting their commitment to establish international measures against blasphemy and trying to remind each other that what unifies civilizations is far greater than what separates them. Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi made it clear that his country aims to obtain a resolution condemning religious intolerance by all EU member-states and highlighted the need to adopt a common dialogue with OIC countries. Interviewed by Italian newspapers, Terzi said Italy has laws to prosecute those who offend religious symbols and affirmed that religions represent fundamental points of reference for billions of people. Terzi also condemned unjustifiable bloody assaults on diplomatic staff, claiming this outburst of violence is probably attributable to the dissatisfaction of extremists who gained less power than they expected from the 2011 Arab revolts. In the aftermath of the attacks in Benghazi and Cairo, OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu also stated that acts of violence are not justified within the Islamic doctrine and underlined the need to adopt sharper initiatives at an international level to find the right compromise between religious freedom and freedom of expression. Another important step in the fight against religious hatred was taken by the European Union and three main regional organizations – the Arab League, the OIC and the African Union - whose leaders signed for the first time on Sept. 20 a joint statement in defense of religious tolerance. “We are united in our belief in the fundamental importance of religious freedom and tolerance,” wrote Ihsanoglu, Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Arabi, African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security Ramtane Lamamra and EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. “The anguish of Muslims” over the production of the movie insulting Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the satirical cartoons in French magazine Charlie Hebdo, “is shared by all individuals and communities who refuse to allow religion to be used to fuel provocation, confrontation and extremism. “We know that the behavior of small groups of people does not speak for the larger communities from which they hail, but the damage they inflict can be considerable.” The unprecedented joint appeal of Europe, Africa and the Muslim world comes from the fear of undermining reciprocal trust and respect built up over many years. The statement added: “The international community cannot be held hostage to the acts of extremists on either side. Reason rather than rage must prevail.” The statement continues with a clear condemnation of the recent attacks on diplomatic missions and a reiteration of the organizations' strong commitment to work for an international consensus on tolerance and full respect for religion on the basis of a UN resolution dedicated to “combating intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization of, and discrimination, incitement to violence, and violence against persons based on religion or belief.” It was adopted in March 2011 by the UN Human Rights Council at the initiative of the OIC. The report ends with a call to all political, secular or religious leaders to promote dialogue and mutual understanding: “The only answer to the darkness of intolerance and ignorance is the light of mutual respect, tolerance and dialogue.”
