France, EU and India opposed creation of UN day to combat Islamophobia

France, the European Union and India objected to the creation earlier this week of a United Nations-recognised worldwide day to fight Islamophobia.

Members of the United Nations Common Meeting on Tuesday adopted a decision proposed by Pakistan to mark the annual day on 15 March, the anniversary of the 2019 assault on two mosques in New Zealand which left 51 folks lifeless.

The decision was supported by 55 Muslim-majority international locations of the Riyadh-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), together with Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, Syria, Algeria, Morocco and lots of different international locations within the Gulf and North Africa.

Welcoming the decision on Wednesday, OIC Secretary Common Hissein Brahim Taha mentioned it will “consolidate international consciousness of the specter of hatred and fanaticism in opposition to Muslims”.

Nevertheless it was additionally co-sponsored by various different states together with Russia, at present waging an unlawful struggle in Ukraine, and China, drawing condemnation by Uighur activists.

Representatives from France and India, which have additionally confronted accusations of Islamophobia by their very own Muslim communities, each spoke in opposition to the decision, although neither opposed its adoption by consensus.

Describing the decision as “unsatisfying” and problematic, Nicolas de Riviere, the French everlasting consultant to the UN, advised the Common Meeting that France supported the safety of all religions and beliefs however questioned the singling out of a selected faith.

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“The time period Islamophobia has no agreed upon definition in worldwide legislation, in contrast to the liberty of faith or conviction. Nevertheless it’s this liberty that France defends, in addition to all the opposite public freedoms, equivalent to the liberty of expression or conviction,” mentioned de Riviere.

“The phrase additionally means that it’s the faith itself that’s protected, not the believers. But it’s the freedom to consider, or not consider, or the precise to alter faith, that we should always promote.”

De Riviere’s considerations had been echoed by the EU, a bloc of 27 European nations which has everlasting observer standing on the UN however doesn’t have voting rights.

In an announcement to the Common Meeting, the EU mentioned it was involved by the proliferation of worldwide days.

It mentioned a concentrate on Islamophobia was an “pointless duplication” after the UN in 2019 adopted 22 August as an “Worldwide Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Primarily based on Faith or Perception”.

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“We’re involved with the strategy of addressing just one faith by a Common Meeting initiative,” the EU assertion mentioned.

“By utilizing the time period ‘Islamophobia’ as a substitute of ‘anti-Muslim discrimination’ or ‘anti-Muslim hatred’, the OIC initiative focuses on defending faith as such which is an strategy that undermines the safety of the person human rights of individuals, such because the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, together with the precise to debate and criticise faith.”

‘Islamophobic state’

France’s opposition to the decision comes with the federal government itself dealing with accusations of Islamophobia over a raft of insurance policies geared toward addressing “separatism and Islamism” and new powers which have been used to close down mosques and Muslim group organisations.

Rayan Freschi, a researcher for Cage, a human rights teams advocating for Muslim communities affected by counter-terrorism insurance policies, advised Center East Eye that French opposition to the UN decision was “no shock”.

“France has progressively institutionalised Islamophobia by the adoption of legal guidelines and insurance policies severely limiting Muslim’s capacity to follow their religion freely. Below Emmanuel Macron’s presidency, it took a step additional by intentionally pursuing an anti-Muslim persecution – a persecution it refuses to acknowledge,” mentioned Freschi.

“Therefore, France is an Islamophobic state which may solely oppose the institution of an worldwide day which might assist holding it to account for its Islamophobia.”

Addressing the Common Meeting, India’s everlasting consultant TS Tirumurti known as on the UN to sentence “religiophobias” fairly than singling out Islamophobia, citing discrimination in opposition to Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists.

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“It’s on this context that we’re involved about elevating the phobia in opposition to one faith to the extent of a global day, to the exclusion of all of the others,” he mentioned.

The Indian authorities has been accused by human rights teams and the UN Human Rights Council of discrimination in opposition to Muslims and of stoking violence and hate crimes by Hindu nationalists in opposition to Muslim communities.

The adoption of the decision comes after the United Nations’ particular rapporteur on freedom of faith or perception final 12 months mentioned anti-Muslim hatred had reached “epidemic proportions” in a report citing examples of Islamophobia in each France and India.

The decision was extensively welcomed by leaders of Muslim-majority nations.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan mentioned on Twitter: “I wish to congratulate the Muslim Ummah at the moment as our voice in opposition to the rising tide of Islamophobia has been heard.

“As we speak the UN has lastly recognised the grave problem confronting the world: of Islamophobia, respect for spiritual symbols and practices and of curbing systematic hate speech and discrimination in opposition to Muslims. The subsequent problem is to make sure implementation of this landmark decision.”

However the involvement of China as a co-sponsor of the decision alongside OIC member states was decried by Uighur activists who accuse Beijing of waging a marketing campaign of genocide in opposition to the Turkic Muslim minority within the west of the nation.

Dolkun Isa, the top of the World Uighur Congress, a German-based advocacy organisation, advised MEE: “Given the Chinese language authorities’s brutal repression of Uyghur Muslims, and its struggle in opposition to Islam normally, China’s co-sponsorship is very paradoxical.

“If China critically desires to fight Islamophobia, it ought to first take a look at its personal insurance policies and the persecution of Uyghur Muslims.”