Islam at the Human Rights Council
by David G. Littman (Published May 2010)
CONFERENCE:
Israel, EU and the intercultural dialogue:
How will the demographic and cultural changes
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Member of the European Parliament Sari Essayah
Founding Director and European Director of Coalition for Israel
Tomas Sandell
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Speakers:
David G. Littman
Dennis Wrigley / Dr. Perrine Dufoix / Prof. Emile Vanbeckevoort
H.E. Ron Curiel, Israeli Ambassador to European Institutions in Brussels /
MEP Bastiaan Creis, Chairman of European Parliament Delegation for Relations with Israel
Presentation
David G. Littman
in the world community at large?
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a great honour and a pleasure, for me to be here today and I wish to thank the European Coalition for Israel for their timely initiative to hold this Conference at the European Parliament. My available text contains smaller bracketed passages, as documentation that I shall not be able to pronounce in the time available.
descending incontinently, recklessly, the staircase which leads to a dark gulf. It is a fine broad staircase at the beginning, but, after a bit, the carpet ends. A little further on there are only flagstones, and, a little further on still, these break beneath your feet.
gives a vivid image of the general climate nowadays at the UN Human Rights Council.
Agreement on both sides of the Mediterranean” 1 as she described it – while stressing: “our cherished religious, philosophical and humanist values”; “the importance of freedom of expression and religion”; “gender equality and women’s rights”; and “unrestricted freedom for all to change a religion.” She then concluded by reiterating the position of the EU and Western countries, and adding clearly that there should be “no complementary standards” to the universal human rights as expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Bill of Human Rights.
“This is a crucial question that needs a clear reply otherwise we are turning back the clock.”
There was no public response to our query from members of the OIC or the NAM (Non-Aligned Movement states) – nor from the EU and other Western representatives, who preferred not to rock the diplomatic boat by acknowledging facts.
The Islamic Republic of Iran (1979) and the Universal Declaration
It is worth chronicling the Islamic ‘game of nations’ that began 30 years ago with systematic efforts at the UN by OIC countries – to replace the dominant paradigms of international relations – especially after Iran multiplied objections to the universal character and the indivisibility of human rights enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, referring to it as a Western secular concept of Judeo-Christian origin, incompatible with the sacred Islamic shari’a. Examples are numerous and some are to be found in our text.
[In 1981, two years after the Iranian revolution, this precise position was clearly stated at a 36th UN General Assembly session when the Iranian delegate affirmed that the Universal Declaration could not be implemented by Muslims: – If a choice had to be made between its stipulations and “the divine law of the country,” Iran would always choose Islamic law. In 1982, Iran demanded a modification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – “through sincere dialogue and honest scholarly endeavour.” (A/C.3/37/SR.56, §53-55)]
[Again, in December 1984, at the UN General Assembly [3rd Committee], Iran’s delegate put on record his country’s position, which I have quoted in several articles over 20 years and at the UN, as it speaks volumes:
[Certain concepts contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights needed to be revised. [Iran] recognized no authority or power but that of Almighty God and no legal tradition apart from Islamic law. As his delegation had already stated (…) conventions, declarations and resolutions, or decisions of international organizations which were contrary to Islam had no validity in the Islamic Republic of Iran. (…) The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which represented a secular understanding of the Judeo-Christian tradition, could not be implemented by Muslims and did not accord with the system of values recognized by the Islamic Republic of Iran; his country would therefore not hesitate to violate its provisions, since it had to choose between violating the divine law of the country and violating secular conventions. (A/C.3/39/SR.65, § 91-95)]
In a casual reading, the English version of the UIDHR seems to be closely modeled after the UDHR, but upon closer examination many of the similarities turn out to be misleading. In addition, the English version diverges from the Arabic version at many points. 2
Ayatollah Khomeini’s Rushdie hukm / fatwa 3of 14 February 1989
The 1948 UDHR affirms in its articles 18 and 19 that: “everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion” and “the right to freedom of opinion and expression.” On St. Valentine Day, 14 February 1989, this was questioned by the Ayatollah Khomeini and the Rushdie syndrome began its grim toll. It is worthwhile recalling the words in Khomeini’s Jihad-Martyrdom death sentence (available here):
And I warned then that:
Silence, here and now, would make of us all the accomplices of terrorism and tyranny. This Commission has a duty to act, however ineffective such a resolution may seem to be now.
Rushdie and the 1990 Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam
It is worthwhile following the trail of this Frankenstein ‘stealth jihad’ trek from the start – of what was to become the greatest freedom-of-opinion and expression issue of the 20th century. Exactly a month after the St. Valentine’s Day lethal hukm-fatwa, the Iranian Government obtained a declaration adopted at the 18th meeting of foreign ministers of the OIC countries held in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) on 13-16 March 1989, which “proclaimed, in unambiguous terms, the apostasy of Salman Rushdie.“
On 30 October, the fundamentalist Iranian position was expressed in a reply by Iranians Ambassador Sirous Nasseri to the Human Rights Committee (the UN Treaty Body that supervises the 1966 ICCPR.) 6
[It could, of course, be argued that each State party to the Covenant should simply apply its provisions to the letter. Yet many peoples were not satisfied with the rigid application of human rights instruments and wanted account taken of their traditions, culture and religious context in order to evaluate the human rights situation in a country. (…) A revival of Islam, which some call fanaticism or extremism and others renaissance, was obviously taking place.[…] It should be borne in mind that certain Islamic countries – and by no means the least important – had not subscribed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. An even larger number had not yet acceded to the Covenant. The Islamic countries had therefore elaborated an Islamic Declaration of Human Rights (the 1990 Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam). (…) Members of the Committee had asked whether the Islamic Republic of Iran had specific reservations to make concerning the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Covenant; an examination of the Islamic Declaration of Human Rights revealed what, in the view of the Islamic countries, was lacking in those two instruments. [Iran] had reached the conclusion that those two instruments were compatible with Islamic law. […] Discrepancies […] between domestic legislation and the Covenant should not be exaggerated. […] Those differences could be overcome and a better understanding of Islam, of Islamic law and of international law achieved only by means of dialogue approached with an open mind.] 7
CDHRI published in UN ‘Compilation of International Instruments’ (1997)
a religion of peace and tolerance.
Tightening the net of Dhimmitude
Islam, one of the principal religions of the world, is being slandered in different quarters, including in human rights forums.
He built his case on the 1997 Blasphemy Affair at the Commission on Human Rights and a much-repeated affirmation by him and his OIC colleagues:
It was Islam which gave the world the first Charter of Human Rights in the Holy Qur’an; the Declaration of Human Rights in Prophet Muhammad’s last address; and the first Refugee Convention in the Constitution of Medina.
2001: Year of “Dialogue Among Civilizations”– initiated by President Khatami
which is usually made available on such occasions in the six official languages:
[Attempted censorship at the Sub-Commission on Human Rights (2005)]
The status of Islam at the UN: ‘Danish Affair’ and an Islamic Charter
[In a press release in February 2006 by the OIC Secretariat’s Observatory on Islamophobia, we read about [He considered that these:
One passage from his text speaks volumes:
It is the common sense that Islamophobic acts, which are also against the internationally promoted common values, cannot and should not be condoned in the pretext of freedom of expression or press. The principle of freedom of expression cannot be promoted by offensively hurting and trampling on the sincere religious beliefs of millions of people.
The Conference called for considering the possibility of establishing an independent permanent body to promote human rights in Member States as well as the possibility in preparing an Islamic Charter on Human Rights in accordance with the provisions of the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam and interact with the United Nations and other relevant international bodies.
This Islamic Charter has since been confirmed at the OIC meeting in Dakar in 2008.
2nd decade of human rights education (2004-14), the teaching of hate is unacceptable
Doudou Diène: UN Special Rapporteur on Racism & Islamophobia
[One example of the “Islamophobia” campaign by Muslim countries was pronounced on September 25 2007 by Ambassador Khan, speaking again for the OIC on ‘Defamation of Religions’. There was no official reaction by any State Members to this very grave calumny, but a strong letter of complaint signed by numerous NGOs was sent to the ambassador on September 28, the last day of the session. One paragraph of his statement is enough to show the depths of the duplicity being used constantly in human rights forums.
Accomodation of Muslims and their religious aspirations in the Western world will create space for political and social harmony. All is not dark. Enlightened communities and opinion leaders in Europe and North America are trying to steer their societies in that direction. It is, however, surprising that in many instances Holocaust survivors, instead of promoting such harmony, are campaigning against Muslim symbols in the Western world. They should be the most ardent advocates against discrimination. Islamophobia is also a crude form of Anti-Semitism.]
Among our UN oral and written statements that I have made available, there are two remarkable examples of what is happening at the Human Rights Council.
– One gives the verbatim exchanges during what is now known as the “Shari’a Affair” of 16 June 2008 when the Egyptian delegate tried to stop me speaking (for the AWE and IHEU) on violence against women in regard to shari’ah law; instead of a 3 minute statement, this farce lasted 1½ hours. A similar case occurred on 23 September 2008 when I mentioned the name of the Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi. These ludicrous ad hominem attacks on NGOs can be read in detail and also be seen on the UN webcast. Since then, words such as shari’a, fatwa, Allah, the Grand Sheikh Tantawi and others became taboo words that can no longer be pronounced.
Conclusion
To conclude, let us all remember that it is now 60 years since the horrors of the Second World War and the founding of the United Nations: a body often more ‘Divided’ regionally, politically & spiritually, than ‘United.’ The principal aim of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights was to create a framework for a world society, in need of universal codes based on mutual consent in order to function. We must always remain vigilant to prevent these international standards being contested by those who call into question – at the United Nations or elsewhere – the universality of these human rights principles. This creeping dhimmitude at the UN & elsewhere should be denounced for what it is: a return to the past.
Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed and tolerance with them …We should therefore claim in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law, and we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal, in the same way as we should consider incitement to murder, or to kidnapping, or to the revival of the slave trade. 10
Notes:
3. It is important to distinguish between two types of religious rulings in Iran: a fatwa and a hukm – the former remains valid only during the lifetime of the religious authority who issues it; the latter continues in effect beyond his death. Despite the Western habit of referring to the edict against Rushdie as a fatwa, Iranian spokesmen have universally regarded it as a hukm. In an interview four years later, then Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani referred to the fatwa/hukm against Salman Rushdie and was very clear in his definition:
7. Official Records of the Human Rights Committee, 1992-93, CCPR/12 (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights), vol. 1, 46th session, 1196th meeting (New York and Geneva: UN (ICCPR), 1996, § 55-56
Reprinted: Robert Spencer (Ed.) The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims, NY: Prometheus, 2005, ch. 29.
David G. Littman is a historian. He has published numerous articles on Jews and Christians (dhimmis) under Islam in the 1970s and 1980s, and co-To comment on this article, please click here.
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