“The U.S. will always enforce its own standards on freedom of expression; these are enshrined in this country’s Constitution. But its legal exceptionalism on freedom of speech does not necessarily mean that the U.S. administration needs to be diplomatically isolated when it comes to promoting globally the principles of freedom of speech and freedom of religion, which many in the U.S. perceive to be core and founding American values. On the contrary, since the U.S. joined the U.N. Human Rights Council, the Obama administration has openly expressed its ambition to exert leadership within the U.N. body.
The U.S. demonstrated that leadership by securing the passage of Resolution 16/18 at the Human Rights Council and by moving immediately to show through the Istanbul Process Conference that states have tools at their disposal to combat violence, discrimination and hatred without restricting free speech.”
Could You Be A Criminal? US Supports UN Anti-Free Speech Measure
here’s where Resolution 16/18 gets tricky.
Because who, exactly, arbitrates what is “incitement to imminent violence”? Violence by whom? If drawing a caricature of the Prophet incites violence by Islamic radicals to the tune of riots, arson, and murder, all sanctioned by the IOC itself – then drawing such a caricature (or writing a book like the
Satanic Verses) will now constitute a criminal act. And that is exactly what the OIC was aiming for. It is also in direct violation of the principles of Western democracy – and the First Amendment. (Though it is crucial to note that any resolution passed by the General Assembly remains nonbinding, which makes you sort of wonder what the point of all this is, anyway.)
Moreover, since many would claim that the persecution of blasphemers is mandated by their religion, conflicts emerge between guarantees of free expression and the guarantee of freedom of religion and the practice of one’s faith. In other words: your free speech allows you to insult my prophet: my freedom of religion compels me to kill you for it.
What was that about “incitement to violence”?
Whose violence?
This is how the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation plays “Gotcha.
This is how the American government, however unwittingly, subsumes its own Constitution in deference ot the demands of the Islamic state.
It’s a dangerous game.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/abigailesman/2011/12/30/could-you-be-a-criminal-us-supports-un-anti-free-speech-measure/2/
Co-hosted by Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia (CDHR), and American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD)
U.N. Human Rights Council Resolution 16/18 was negotiated between the Obama Administration and Egypt, a prominent member of the Saudi-championed Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Resolution 16/18 was purportedly a compromise between advocates of a resolution condemning “defamation of religions” and those who were concerned that such a resolution would threaten freedoms of expression and religion. The Council adopted Resolution 16/18 in March 2011.
Please join us as the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia and The Heritage Foundation host a group of well-informed defenders of freedom of expression and religion to shed light on the potential ramifications of Resolution 16/18 and what should be done about them.
http://www.heritage.org/events/2012/...solution-16-18
call[s] on States to take the following actions to foster a domestic environment of religious tolerance, peace and respect, by:
(e) Speaking out against intolerance, including advocacy of religious hatred
that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence [NOTE: exact wording of ICCPR Article 20.2];
http://www.ifex.org/international/20...tion_16_18.pdf
http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2011/s11080130.htm
Criminalizing intolerance
Op-Ed
At a United Nations conference this week, free speech is in the cross hairs.
December 12, 2011|By Jonathan Turley
This week in Washington, the United States is hosting an international conference obliquely titled "Expert Meeting on Implementing the U.N. Human Rights Resolution 16/18.
" The impenetrable title conceals the disturbing agenda:
to establish international standards for, among other things, criminalizing "intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization of … religion and belief." The unstated enemy of religion in this conference is free speech, and the Obama administration is facilitating efforts by Muslim countries to "deter" some speech in the name of human rights.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec...phemy-20111210
Pastor Terry Jones, the pastor of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, has been
sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian court. Also sentenced along with Rev. Jones were Mark Basseley Youssef, the maker of the notorious Mohammed movie, and six other U.S.-based Egyptian Christians, including a woman who converted from Islam to Christianity.
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/20...ones-must.html