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UN anti-blasphemy measure a threat to free speech, critics say
By Steven Edwards
Canwest News Service
November 25, 2008
UNITED NATIONS - Islamic countries yesterday won United Nations backing for an anti-blasphemy measure that Canada and other western critics say risks being used to limit freedom of speech.
Combating Defamation of Religions passed 85-50 with 42 abstentions in a key UN committee, and will enter into the international record after an expected rubber stamp by the plenary later in the year.
But while the draft's sponsors say it is aimed at preventing violence against worshippers regardless of religion, religious tolerance advocates warn the resolutions are being accumulated for a more sinister goal.
"It provides international cover for domestic anti-blasphemy laws, and there are a number of people who are in prison today because they have been accused of committing blasphemy," said Bennett Graham, international program director with the Becket Fund, a think-tank aimed at promoting religious liberty.
"Those arrests are made legitimate by the UN body's (effective) stamp of approval," said Mr. Graham.
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