Geneva: The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has decided to hold an urgent session to address Islamophobia and religious hatred after world wide outrage against burning of Holy Quran on the first day of Eid al Adha in Sweden.
Addressing a press briefing, a spokesperson for the Geneva-based UN council said that the session will discuss the rising religious hatred in the world.
The development came after the desecration of Holy Quran in Sweden by an Iraqi immigrant who set a copy of the sacred book ablaze outside a mosque in the country's capital on Wednesday June 28, 2023.
Salwan Momika, 37, who fled from Iraq to Sweden several years ago, stomped on the holy book and set several pages alight as Muslims around the world began marking the Eid al Adha holiday and Hajj - the annual pilgrimage to Makkah in Saudi Arabia, was at its peak.
The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, which is meeting in session until July 14, will change its agenda to hold an urgent debate.
The decision to hold UNHRC special session is taken following a request from Pakistan.
"The UN Human Rights Council will hold an urgent debate to ´discuss the alarming rise in premeditated and public acts of religious hatred, as manifested by the current desecration of the Holy Quran in some European and other countries´," council spokesman Pascal Sim told reporters, citing the wording of the request. "This urgent debate will be convened following a request of Pakistan, sent on behalf of several members of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation, including those that are members of the Human Rights Council. "The urgent debate will most likely be convened this week at a date and time to be determined by the bureau of the Human Rights Council that is meeting today."
"The UN Human Rights Council will hold an urgent debate to ´discuss the alarming rise in premeditated and public acts of religious hatred, as manifested by the current desecration of the Holy Quran in some European and other countries´," council spokesman Pascal Sim told reporters, citing the wording of the request.
"This urgent debate will be convened following a request of Pakistan, sent on behalf of several members of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation, including those that are members of the Human Rights Council.
"The urgent debate will most likely be convened this week at a date and time to be determined by the bureau of the Human Rights Council that is meeting today."
There are 47 members of the Human Rights Council. The UN´s top rights body is currently in the second of its three regular sessions per year.
The UNHRC decision to call special meeting comes two days after OIC - the powerful 57-member organisation of Muslim countries, in its meeting held on Sunday condemned the desecration of Quran and called for a collective effort to combat hate crimes.
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