Pakistan unveils strategy to counter hate speech

Qureshi calls for concluding international instrument to prohibit acts of religious intolerance

ISLAMABAD:

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday unveiled a three-pronged “preventive and action-oriented” strategy to deal with religious intolerance and hatred leading to violence, noting that people of every faith had been victims of these scourges.

The minister delivered the keynote address to the inaugural session of the 8th meeting of the Istanbul Process, on the theme of the “10th anniversary of UN Human Rights Council Resolution 16/18: Looking Back and Moving Forward”.

The strategy envisages review of the discriminatory state laws, policies and practices; promotion of the inter-faith harmony, tolerance and peaceful co-existence, and an international instrument to prohibit dissemination of ideas which incited acts of religious intolerance and hatred.

In a keynote address today at the #IstanbulProcess meeting, being hosted by 🇵🇰, FM @SMQureshiPTI articulated Pakistan’s perspective and concerns over the rising incidents of hatred, discrimination and violence, against individuals and communities due to their religious beliefs. pic.twitter.com/v5iOA8m9TM

— Spokesperson 🇵🇰 MoFA (@ForeignOfficePk) February 16, 2022

The minister highlighted that “securitisation of the state policies, deployment of incendiary rhetoric by public office holders, and misuse of social media platforms” were among the main drivers of the growing incidents of religious intolerance, discrimination and violence worldwide.

“While people of every faith have been victims of these scourges, Muslims and Islam have borne their main brunt,” the foreign minister told the session, which was being hosted by Pakistan from Geneva, via a video link.

Read more: Saudi envoy calls on FM Qureshi

According to a statement issued by the Foreign Office, Foreign Minister Qureshi presented the “three-pronged preventive and action-oriented strategy” as a “way forward to prevent and counter these contemporary menaces”.

Dilating the strategy, the foreign minister called for reviewing discriminatory state laws, policies and practices; and promoting inter-faith harmony, tolerance and peaceful co-existence, while building legal deterrence against hate speech.

Thirdly, he also called for “concluding an international instrument that prohibits dissemination of ideas and expressions which incite acts of religious intolerance and hatred leading to violence”, according to the Foreign Office statement.

FM presented a preventive strategy ⬇️

1️⃣ review/reversal of discriminatory policies,laws &practices
2️⃣ legal deterrence against transmission/amplification of hate speech
3️⃣ consider/conclude an int’l instrument prohibiting incitement to religious hate,discrimination & violence. pic.twitter.com/ebadEuoiod

— Spokesperson 🇵🇰 MoFA (@ForeignOfficePk) February 16, 2022

Pakistan is a key stakeholder in launching the Istanbul Process in July 2011, which is the implementation platform for the resolution 16/18. Pakistan is part of the Quartet countries, along with Turkey, UK and US, which steers this process.

The meeting is being hosted on virtual platform, with the foreign minister of Turkey, the secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the UK minister of state for the UN and the US under-secretary for democracy and human rights in attendance. They also addressed the session.

EU special representative for human rights, president of the UN Human Rights Council, UN deputy high commissioner for human rights, high representative for UN Alliance of Civilizations and former OIC secretary general Prof Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu also spoke during the opening session.

Also read: Pakistan wants relations with US 'in sync with changed priorities': Qureshi

During the Istanbul Process, nearly 200 participants from states, inter-governmental organisations, civil society, faith community, mainstream and social media, will hold panel discussions to take stock of the progress made in the last 10 years and explore ways to counter these challenges.

The Foreign Office said that Pakistan played a lead role in crafting political consensus on Human Rights Council’s resolution 16/18 in 2011, which outlined an eight-point action plan to counter discrimination and violence against individuals and communities due to their religion or belief.

“The hosting of this 8th Istanbul Process meeting signifies Pakistan’s resolve to foster dialogue, and encourage adoption of affirmative and regulatory measures as a bulwark against rising incidents of incitement to violence against people of faith, in line with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision.”