The Executive Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has strongly condemned the recent flagrant attack on the sanctity of the Holy Quran in the Kingdom of Sweden on the first day of Eid al-Adha in 1444 outside the Central Mosque in the capital, Stockholm, expressing dismay at repeated acts of desecration of copies of the Holy Quran, and authorities issuing a permit authorizing its performance.

This emerges from the final statement issued after the Committee meeting on Sunday at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jeddah, at the invitation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, President of the Islamic Summit, and President of the Executive Committee, to discuss the recent desecration of copies of the Holy Quran in Sweden.

The Committee invited the Secretary General of the Organization to send a letter on behalf of the Member States to the Swedish Government and to consider the possibility of sending a delegation to Sweden and to the Commission of the European Union to express the condemnation of the burning a copy of the Noble Quran and to ask them to take the necessary measures to prevent this criminal act from happening again under the pretext of freedom of expression.

The Committee condemned all attempts to offend the sanctity of the Holy Quran and other sacred values and symbols of Islam under the guise of freedom of expression, which contradicts the spirit of Articles 19 and 20 of the International Covenant on civil and political rights and calls on the international community to oppose these attempts at provocation.

The Committee called on the Ambassadors of OIC Member States in capitals where heinous acts against copies of the Holy Quran and other sacred Islamic symbols are taking place, to exert collective efforts at the level of national parliaments, media and civil society organizations.

As well as other governmental institutions, to express the position of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and to urge the competent authorities to take the necessary legislative measures to criminalize such attacks, taking into account that the exercise of freedom of expression entails special duties and responsibilities.

The Committee also called on all OIC missions abroad (New York, Geneva and Brussels) to take the initiative in relevant international organizations to which they are accredited, in order to fight against acts of hatred against the Islam and its symbols and its holiness by interpreting the conventions as well as the elaboration of new international legal texts for this purpose.

The committee urged Islamic civil society institutions to work with civil society organizations in countries where anti-Islamic attacks occur against copies of the Holy Quran and other sacred values, to resort to local courts and to exhaust all local legal proceedings, under the direction of specialized legal counsel, before taking legal action in international courts, if necessary.

The Committee called on the General Secretariat to expedite the implementation of the “Plan of Action to Combat Islamophobia”, which was adopted by the Ministers of the OIC Member States of the Contact Group on Peace and dialogue, on the margins of the seventy-fourth session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

He reaffirmed the importance of the eight-point plan of action unanimously adopted by Human Rights Council resolution 16/18 as an important step at the United Nations to combat incitement to hatred, against discrimination, stigma and violence based on religion or belief, and calls on all Member States to review the progress made in the implementation of the action plan and to do their utmost to maintain the consensus internationally around this important initiative of the organization.

He also reaffirmed the essential role of political commitment at the highest level for the full and effective implementation of United Nations Human Rights Council resolution 16/18, and encouraged States to pay particular to the importance of criminalizing incitement to violence on the basis of religion or belief while recognizing the positive role of open and constructive debate, as well as respect and inter-religious dialogue in this regard.

He called on all governments to fully implement the existing legal and administrative framework or adapt new legislation as necessary in accordance with their obligations under international law, norms and standards to protect all individuals and all communities against hatred and violence based on religion and belief and to ensure the protection of places of worship.

It also requested the Secretary-General to send a letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the President of the Security Council, urging them to issue statements condemning the rejection of insulting religious and sacred symbols, which stir up hatred, encourage growth of violent extremism and fuels terrorism. It calls for the mutual respect of all religions and beliefs and the promotion of a culture of peace and tolerance.

And I have called on all Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Geneva to immediately draw the attention of the Human Rights Council to the recent flagrant attack on the sanctity and sanctity of the Holy Quran in the Kingdom of Sweden in calling for an urgent debate at its current fifty-third session and all its future sessions; Introduce a resolution to address the recurrence of these unfortunate incidents, identify and confront the motives and manifestations of this serious human rights issue in a systematic and institutional way, and keep the issue under review.

She reiterated the Secretary-General’s call to take immediate steps to strengthen the Islamophobia Observatory within the General Secretariat, transforming it into a comprehensive department for combating Islamophobia, dialogue and communication, allocating the necessary resources to enable the observatory to operate effectively, to implement concrete actions programmed in the field, and to facilitate its liaison with other centers and mechanisms involved in monitoring the phenomenon of Islamophobia throughout the world, and to announce its periodic reports in a professional manner.

And she called for placing the desecration of copies of the Holy Quran, Islamic symbols and sanctities on the agenda of the coordination meeting of foreign ministers of member states on the sidelines of the next session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York and the upcoming Islamic summit in The Gambia with the aim of taking more measures to combat this negative phenomenon against Islam and Muslims.

He also called on the Secretary General of the organization to consider possible measures to review the official framework linking the General Secretariat to any country in which copies of the Holy Quran and other Islamic values, symbols and doctrines are desecrated with the endorsement by the country concerned, including suspension of special envoy status.

The Committee requested the Secretary-General to implement paragraph 9 of resolution No. 68/48-S, to appoint a special envoy on Islamophobia, within available resources, to lead collective efforts on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The committee ordered that a regular meeting of the Executive Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Islamophobia be held in September 2023, to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the despicable attacks against Muslims and holy Islamic symbols, including including the desecration of copies of the Noble Quran and to follow up on the results and decisions of previous meetings of the Executive Committee and the Council of Foreign Ministers, in preparation for a meeting at the level of the Ministerial Office of the Cooperation Organization Islam in coordination with the General Secretariat and in consultation with the Member States.

He welcomed the holding of the International Conference on Islamophobia and Anti-Discrimination from 22 to 23 August 2023 in Kuala Lumpur in coordination with the General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, calling on the General Secretariat to organize events on the occasion of the International Anti-Islamophobia Day Conference at its headquarters and in countries where anti-Islamic attacks occur, in order to raise global awareness and mobilize Member States and partners potential, to combat Islamophobia in the most effective way.

Source: Burkina Information Agency