AMBASSADOR’S SERIES 2012 “Countering Incitement to Hatred without Restricting Freedom of Expression” November 7, 2012

Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations, Ambassador Ufuk Gokcen spoke at the Ambassador Luncheon Series event, held by the Peace Islands Institute’s Center for Global Affairs on Wednesday, 7 November. During his speech where he addressed the issue of “Countering Incitement to Hatred without Restricting Freedom of Expression”, Ambassador Gokcen explained the international community’s work in this regard. He noted that the UN Human Rights Council adopted the Resolution 16/18, titled “Combating intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization of, and discrimination, incitement to violence and violence against persons based on religion or belief” with a consensus of the United States, European Union, OIC member states, and member states from other regional groups in March 2011. 

Similarly, he reminded, the UN General Assembly has unanimously adopted a similar resolution in November of the same year, encouraging states to take necessary precautions within their national legal systems consistent with their obligations under the international human rights law, so that no one is exposed to violence, hatred or discrimination on the basis of his or her religion or belief. Ambassador Gokcen explained how the OIC has worked together with the US, EU and other counterparts to develop a global understanding that whereas the individual freedoms of opinion and expression cannot be restricted, those rights and freedoms should be exercised responsibly in order not to endanger the others’ rights and freedoms as well as peace and security. 

In this connection, Ambassador Gokcen argued that the HRC Res. 16/18 provided the nations with an appropriate and effective framework to counter incitement to hatred without restricting freedom of expression. During the fifteenth session of the Human Rights Council, Secretary General of the OIC, Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu proposed 8 points, Ambassador said, which formed the basis of a new approach developed under his and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to tackle incitement to hatred. He suggested the following actions to foster a domestic environment of religious tolerance, peace and respect, by:

(a) Encouraging the creation of collaborative networks to build mutual understanding, promoting dialogue and inspiring constructive action towards shared policy goals and the pursuit of tangible outcomes, such as servicing projects in the fields of education, health, conflict prevention, employment, integration and media education;

(b) Creating an appropriate mechanism within the government to, inter alia, identify and address potential areas of tension between members of different religious communities, and assisting with conflict prevention and mediation;

(c) Encouraging training of government officials in effective outreach strategies;

(d) Encouraging efforts of leaders to discuss within their communities causes of discrimination and evolving strategies to counter these causes;

(e) Speaking out against intolerance, including advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence;

(f) Adopting measures to criminalize incitement to imminent violence based on religion or belief;

(g) Understanding the need to combat denigration and negative religious stereotyping of persons, as well as incitement to religious hatred, by strategizing and harmonizing actions at the local, national, regional and international levels through, inter alia, education and awareness-building;

(h) Recognizing that the open, constructive and respectful debate of ideas, as well as interfaith and intercultural dialogue at the local, national and international levels, can play a positive role in combating religious hatred, incitement and violence;

Moreover, Ambassador Gokcen explained how the OIC has transformed itself over the past seven years in line with the Ten Year Program of Action, which was adopted under the leadership of Secretary General Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu. Second largest intergovernmental organization after the UN, OIC has started the change from within by reshaping its organizational structure, and determining its priorities as modernization and moderation across the Muslim world, as well as promotion of democracy, rule of law, good governance, and respect for human rights. In this connection, Ambassador Gokcen said that in 2011 the OIC established an Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission, which will aim to help the OIC Member States consolidate civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of their citizens.