Saturday, 16 July 2011The U.S. secretary of state said on Friday that her country was looking forward to new protections for religious freedoms in Turkey.
Hillary Clinton said in Turkey, there was a potential upcoming constitutional reform process, and the United States looked forward to new protections for religious freedom as well.
Clinton said she would meet Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew on Saturday, and the United States would continue to urge the Turkish Government to reopen the Heybeliada Seminary as a symbol of Turkey's commitment to religious freedom.
"No country, including my own, has a monopoly on truth or a secret formula for ethnic and religious harmony," Clinton said during a high-level meeting on combatting religious intolerance organized in Istanbul by the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Clinton said this takes hard work and persistence and patience. "But wherever we come from and however we worship, all of us can do more in our own lives, in our positions of leadership, and in our communities, to bridge the divides that separate us," she also said.
Hillary Clinton said , "here in Istanbul, which for so long has symbolized a bridge between cultures and continents, we have the opportunity to recommit ourselves to this goal."
"Fifteen years ago in this room, the secretary general said about Istanbul, 'This is a city which for over five centuries has been one of those rare lands of peace, where people of different religions live together in an environment of perfect harmony.' So if you will permit us, Secretary General and Foreign Minister, we want to take some of that spirit home from wherever we came ? and we want to do so by transporting it in our hearts so that it is imprinted there and continues to remind us of the work ahead," Clinton said.
Clinton said, "and in established democracies, we are still working to protect fully our religious diversity, prevent discrimination, and protect freedom of expression. So for all of these reasons, this gathering and the shared commitment it represents is vitally important. It is one of these events that has great ramifications far beyond this room."
Referring to the Human Rights Council resolution 1618, Clinton said under this resolution, the international community was taking a strong stand for freedom of expression and worship, and against discrimination and violence based upon religion or belief.
"These are fundamental freedoms that belong to all people in all places, and they are certainly essential to democracy. But as the secretary general just outlined, we now need to move to implementation. The resolution calls upon states to protect freedom of religion, to counter offensive expression through education, interfaith dialogue, and public debate, and to prohibit discrimination, profiling, and hate crimes, but not to criminalize speech unless there is an incitement to imminent violence. We will be looking to all countries to hold themselves accountable and to join us in reporting to the UN?s Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights on their progress in taking these steps," the secretary said.
Clinton said, "for our part, I have asked our Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom, Suzan Johnson Cook, to spearhead our implementation efforts. And to build on the momentum from today?s meeting, later this year the United States intends to invite relevant experts from around the world to the first of what we hope will be a series of meetings to discuss best practices, exchange ideas, and keep us moving forward beyond the polarizing debates of the past; to build those muscles of respect and empathy and tolerance that the secretary general referenced. It is essential that we advance this new consensus and strengthen it, both at the United Nations and beyond, in order to avoid a return to the old patterns of division."
"The Human Rights Council has given us a comprehensive framework for addressing this issue on the international level. But at the same time, we each have to work to do more to promote respect for religious differences in our own countries. In the United States, I will admit, there are people who still feel vulnerable or marginalized as a result of their religious beliefs. And we have seen how the incendiary actions of just a very few people, a handful in a country of nearly 300 million, can create wide ripples of intolerance. We also understand that, for 235 years, freedom of expression has been a universal right at the core of our democracy. So we are focused on promoting interfaith education and collaboration, enforcing antidiscrimination laws, protecting the rights of all people to worship as they choose, and to use some old-fashioned techniques of peer pressure and shaming, so that people don?t feel that they have the support to do what we abhor," Clinton said.
Clinton said, "in Europe, we are seeing communities coming together to address both the old scourge of anti-Semitism and the new strains of anti-Muslim bias that continue to undermine the continent?s democratic ideals. Across the Middle East and Asia, we look to both people and leaders to resist the incitement of extremists who seek to inflame sectarian tensions, and reject the persecution of religious minorities such as the Copts or Ahmadis or Baha?is."
"In Egypt and Tunisia, we hope to see minorities brought into the process of drafting a new constitution and given a seat at the table as new democracies take shape. And I know that, here in Turkey, there is a potential upcoming constitutional reform process, and we look forward to new protections for religious freedom as well," Clinton also said.
The UN Human Rights Council adopted the Resolution on combating intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization of, and discrimination, incitement to violence, and violence against persons based on religion or belief in the spring of 2011.
In the resolution, the UN Human Rights Council expresses its concern that incidents of religious intolerance, discrimination and related violence, as well as of negative stereotyping of individuals on the basis of religion or belief, continue to rise around the world, and condemns, in this context, any advocacy of religious hatred against individuals that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, and urges States to take effective measures, as set forth in the present resolution, consistent with their obligations under international human rights law, to address and combat such incidents; and condemns any advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, whether it involves the use of print, audio-visual or electronic media or any other means.
The council also calls upon States to adopt measures and policies to promote the full respect for and protection of places of worship and religious sites, cemeteries and shrines, and to take measures in cases where they are vulnerable to vandalism or destruction; calls for strengthened international efforts to foster a global dialogue for the promotion of a culture of tolerance and peace at all levels, based on respect for human rights and diversity of religions and beliefs, and decides to convene a panel discussion on this issue at its seventeenth session, within existing resources.
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Saturday, 16 July 2011
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