Muslim nations seek ban on blasphemy

GENEVA — Four years after cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad set off violent protests, Islamic nations are mounting a campaign for an international treaty to protect religious symbols and beliefs from mockery — essentially a ban on blasphemy that would put them on a collision course with free-speech laws in the West.

Documents show Algeria and Pakistan have taken the lead in lobbying to bring the proposal to a vote in the U.N. General Assembly.

If ratified in countries that enshrine freedom of expression as a fundamental right, such a treaty would require limits on free speech that could seriously offend religious believers. The process, though, would take years, and no showdown is imminent.

The proposal faces stiff resistance from Western countries, including the United States, which has brushed aside other U.N. treaties, such as one to protect migrant workers.

Experts say the bid stands some chance of eventual success if Muslim countries persist. Whatever the outcome, the campaign risks reigniting tensions between Muslims and the West that President Obama has pledged to heal, reviving fears of a "clash of civilizations."

Four years ago, a Danish newspaper published cartoons lampooning the Prophet Muhammad, prompting mobs to attack Western embassies in Muslim countries, including Lebanon, Iran and Indonesia. In a countermovement, several European newspapers reprinted the images.

The countries that form the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Conference are lobbying a little-known Geneva-based U.N. committee to agree that a treaty protecting religions is necessary.

The move would be a first step toward drafting an international protocol that would be put before the General Assembly, a process that could take a decade or more.

The proposal may have some support in the General Assembly. For several years the Islamic Conference has successfully passed a nonbinding resolution there condemning "defamation of religions."

If the treaty were approved, any of the U.N.'s 192 member states that ratified it would be bound by its provisions. Other countries could face criticism for refusing to join.

The Obama administration in October came out strongly against efforts by Islamic nations to bar the defamation of religions, saying the moves would restrict free speech.

" There are signs the U.S. is worried by the Islamic Conference campaign. It has been lobbying hard to quash the proposal, sending a senior U.S. diplomat to Geneva last month for talks described as akin to trench warfare.

In a letter, Pakistan said insults against religion were on the increase.

The Islamic Conference "believes that the attack on sacredly held beliefs and the defamation of religions, religious symbols, personalities and dogmas impinge on the enjoyment of human rights of followers of those religions," the letter said. It was sent last month to members of the Ad Hoc Committee on Complementary Standards, a temporary committee created to consider a previous anti-racism treaty.

In a separate submission, Pakistan proposed extending the treaty against racism to require signatories to "prohibit by law the uttering of matters that are grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion."

It's not clear who would decide what is considered grossly abusive.

One U.S. expert with more than 20 years experience of the U.N. human-rights system said the treaty could have far-reaching implications.

"It would, in essence, advance a global blasphemy law," said Felice Gaer, a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Introducing laws to protect religions from criticism would weaken the whole notion of human rights, said Hans Dahlgren, Sweden's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva.

"Religions as such do not have rights; it's people who have rights," he said.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, the Ad Hoc Committee's chairman, Algerian Ambassador Idriss Jazairy, said concerns the treaty could stifle free speech have been "whipped up into a bugaboo."

Failure to agree on a treaty would boost extremists in the Arab world, said Jazairy, a former envoy to Washington now considered a key player in the U.N.'s human-rights forum.

"If we keep hitting this glass wall and say there's nothing you can do about Islamophobia — you can do something about anti-Semitism but Islamophobia is out of bounds — you give an ideal platform for recruitment of suicide bombers," he said.