2024-05-04 18:36:49
This session was an opportunity for the Secretary General of the OIC and the ministers of several member states to appreciate this decision which strengthens the organization’s approach in the fight against Islamophobia, hate speech, rejection of others and contempt for religions.
This meeting, held by videoconference, was devoted to the examination of two subjects relating to the desecration and burning of the Holy Quran in Sweden and Denmark, and the storming of the Al-Aqsa mosque by officials of the Israeli government.
In a statement made public at the end of its meeting at the level of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the Organization expressed its thanks and gratitude to the non-member States who condemned the acts of burning and desecration of the Holy Quran and rejecting these racist attacks involving Islamophobia and xenophobia.
The communiqué reiterated the importance of promoting interreligious and intercultural dialogue, understanding and cooperation and between civilizations for peace and stability in the world, stressing that the dissemination of the values of tolerance and peace is the best way to combat hate speech, extremism, violence and incitement.
The OIC expressed deep concern about the increase in cases of discrimination and acts of violence around the world, as well as the resurgence of racist movements and right-wing extremism in different regions of the world following repeated acts of provocation committed by supporters of the extreme right and attacks on the religious symbols of Islam, including the desecration of copies of the Holy Quran.
The statement strongly condemned the repeated blatant attacks on the sanctity of the Holy Quran, the latest of which took place in the cities of Stockholm and Copenhagen, Sweden and Denmark.
The foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation considered that the failure by the Swedish and Danish authorities to take measures to prevent the re-perpetration of such acts is contrary to the United Nations Security Council resolution on the tolerance, international peace and security.
They called on Islamic civil society institutions in member states to work with their counterparts in countries where anti-Islamic attacks have taken place against the Holy Quran and other sacred values, to resort to local courts, to exhaust all local legal procedures and to refer to international judicial bodies.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans living abroad, Nasser Bourita, confirmed that Morocco denounces provocations offensive to the sanctity of Islam and called for the promotion of the values of coexistence and dialogue .
He noted that the Kingdom “especially as it condemns all obscure and barbaric acts of violence committed in the name of Islam, firmly denounces these offensive provocations for the sacred character of the Islamic religion and calls for promoting the values of coexistence and dialogue in societies and the dissemination of a culture of peace.”
In a speech read on his behalf by the Director of the Orient, the Gulf and Arab and Islamic organizations at the ministry, Fouad Akhrif, Mr. Bourita stressed that freedom of expression cannot, under any pretext, justify a provocation and an abusive attack against the religion sacred to more than two billion people around the world, noting that “the examination of offensive acts against Islam questions us all, more than ever, about the need to find means to confront and limit these abuses.”
2024-05-04 18:36:49