Sun Feb 07, 2010 at 23:36:45 PM MST
|
| The idea of a United Nations or a United Nations Council on Human Rights has always struck me as filled with potential even if merely as an arena for dialogue. But dialogue seems rather a paper tiger when faced with actual genocidal mass murder or sociologically sanctioned bludgeoning of it's own strata. |
| joeisuzu :: UN Council on Human Rights-Paper Tiger? |
The only condemnations of recent history I have discovered have been against Israel and the ones against Iran have been blocked by China who have an oil deal with them. (If anyone has more info about what is being done, please feel free. I had a hard time finding out much.) Recently I was listening to a podcast called Reasonable Doubts with a guest speaker Austin Dacey
http://www.austindacey.com/abo...
who is a NGO representative to the UN for the Center for Inquiry.
He was taking about the USA's reengaging to the revamped UN Council on Human Rights
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
and that the UN passed a resolution that went virtually unreported. It was proposed by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, OIC, which consists of about 50 or so Islamic nations:
http://www.oicun.org/oic_at_un...
where they put into effect, and again it was passed by the UN, which
condemns the "defamation of religion" as a violation of human rights
The older term for this is "blasphemy". In the Constitution of the United States of America, we have the right to be blasphemous because of the 1st amendment. The resolution by the OIC, which some of it's constituency is guilty of human rights violations decried by individual nations but could not be passed by the UN because they themselves can vote to block the action, came after the maelstrom of controversy surrounding Danish cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Of course the argument of what constitutes freedom of speech can only be argued when you have the freedom to talk about it. The UN resolution leaves the power to define the "defamation" to those who take umbrage. This resolution by the UN making religion a sacrosanct topic has kept many nations from joining the Council on Human Rights because it has further hobbled what is looked upon by many as an already powerless body to take any positive action in rectifying miscarriages to human rights.
This whole thing led me to an interesting discovery; The Institution for the Secularization of Islamic Society.
You can read their charter here:
http://www.centerforinquiry.ne...
which is now condemnable for blasphemy by the UN. |
|
|
|
