AMP Report – January 18, 2017
UN Secretary General:
Muslims have become convenient scapegoats
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Muslims have become “convenient scapegoats,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Tuesday (Jan 16), addressing a forum to tackle the recent rise in discrimination against Muslims.
The forum in New York City was co-organized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Permanent Missions of the United States, Canada and the European Union Delegation.
Speaking in a video message, Guterres, who assumed office at the start of 2017, outlined both what he believes is the cause for the recent trend and its cost to society.
“In times of insecurity, communities that look different become convenient scapegoats. We must resist cynical efforts to divide communities and portray neighbors as ‘the other.'”
“Discrimination diminishes us all,” he said. “It prevents people – and societies – from achieving their full potential. Let us draw strength from the values of inclusion, tolerance and mutual understanding that are at the heart of all major faiths and the United Nations Charter. As the holy Quran states: ‘nations and tribes were created to know one another.'”
Addressing the forum, the OIC’s Ambassador to the UN, Moiz Bokhari, stated that political rhetoric was one of several causes for the spike in anti-Muslim sentiment.
“They include the rise of xenophobic political discourse and movements, upsurge in the extremist ideologies and related terrorist attacks across the world, global migration crisis due to unresolved political issues, and promotion of negative stereotypes and misinformation against Muslims based on ignorance of Islam by various forms of media,” he said according to a statement.
Bokhari also recognized the need to counter all types of radical extremist discourse, including through education as well as the media and new communications technologies, particularly the Internet, in order to delegitimize the violent and manipulative acts committed in the name of religion, ideology or claim of cultural supremacy.
He pointed out that the OIC considers the UN HRC Resolution 16/18 titled “Combating intolerance, negative stereotyping, stigmatization, discrimination, incitement to violence and violence against persons based on religion or belief” an important tool to counter radicalization, marginalization and alienation, and calls for its effective implementation by the international community.
“Some say we live in a post-truth world,” said EU human rights envoy Stavros Lambrinidis. “We must have the courage to confront narratives when they are based on prejudice, or blatant lies, so that they do not become part of the mainstream.”
“The data leaves no doubt that the incidence of anti-Muslim discrimination and hate are on the rise and this alarming development requires our immediate attention,” said David Saperstein, US envoy on religious freedom.
He noted that levels of anti-Muslim violence in the West pale in comparison to the killings of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Muslims in Central African Republic or bloodshed from Sunni-Shia clashes in the Middle East in recent years.
“It is true that the current political climate in Europe is very toxic,” Alfiaz Vaiya, coordinator of the European Parliament Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup (ARDI), told Middle East Eye on the side-lines of the UN event. “As the Brexit vote and Trump’s victory showed, we cannot take anything for granted. We do have a threat in Europe that we could have some politicians on the extreme far right if not leading governments, then leading parties that gain the most votes.”
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Executive Editor: Abdus Sattar Ghazali
