A confrontation over freedom of expression is brewing in the UN Human Rights Council after Egypt began circulating a draft resolution that Western countries and human rights groups fear could circumscribe free speech.
Egypt began passing a resolution on Friday among delegations from the 47 countries currently serving on the UN Human Rights Council that reportedly calls for further “limitations” on speech that could be construed as defaming religions.
Canada has for years sponsored UN resolutions upholding freedom of expression that have found ready support from other Western countries. These resolutions, while non-binding, help inform international human rights law.
The draft resolution has not yet been made public, but reports in the Canadian press on Saturday said Canadian Ambassador to the UN Marius Grinius “complained forcefully” to his Egyptian counterpart after the Egyptian draft was distributed.
Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized Egypt’s record on free expression. They now say they fear the new resolution could resemble previous Egyptian attempts to exempt speech that adherents to a religion find offensive from speech protected by human rights treaties.
“Be concerned, be very concerned, any time a government with Egypt’s sorry record on freedom of expression attempts to set the parameters for free speech for the rest of the world,” said Joe Stork, associate Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, on Saturday.
“We reject any depiction of the repeated affronts to religions and sanctities as a legitimate exercise of the freedom of expression,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit told the UN General Assembly in September. “There are many glaring slogans in the name of which crimes have been committed against thousands and millions of people through offending them and their beliefs and faiths.”
A spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry could not be reached for comment on the resolution.
Egyptian and international human rights groups said they feared the change could leave human rights law open to misinterpretation.
“It’s ironic that Egypt is portraying itself as a protector of these principles of freedom of expression and religion, when it imprisons people for their religious beliefs,” said Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui, associate Middle East director at Amnesty International.
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
UNSCHEDULED VISIT: ‘It’s a very bulky new neighbor, but it will soon go away,’ said Johan Helberg of the 135m container ship that run aground near his house A man in Norway awoke early on Thursday to discover a huge container ship had run aground a stone’s throw from his fjord-side house — and he had slept through the commotion. For an as-yet unknown reason, the 135m NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s house in a fjord near Trondheim in central Norway. Helberg only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone. “The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000