Defamation of Religion
Sweden
Since 1999, when it was first brought up by Pakistan, defamation of religion
has been quite a controversial subject. While many agree it may escalate to huge
proportions, it has caused a split, mainly between western democracies and
developing countries. While Sweden has not dealt with huge religious crises in
the recent past, it still cares about this issue. It does not want to walk away from
the issue, but yet find a solution to cater to every member state in the UN.
Sweden feels that the defamation of religion should not be dealt with in its own
right. While certainly there are riots and violence in the name against a minority
group, these hate crimes, illegal in Sweden, must be dealt with existing human
right conventions as per the UDHR. As a member state, like all of you, we
strongly back these conventions and promote them as a means to reference in
human rights issues. We, as the member states of the UN are not allowed to
restrict the speaking and expression rights of every minority we encounter. This
shall only cause more conflict, as those who aren’t silenced are given this unfair
advantage. It is for this reason that every resolution against the defamation of
religion that has been passed by the UN has not held Sweden’s vote nor
approval. We are against this becoming an outlet to silence other groups in other
countries.
The positions of other countries puts Sweden in a tough spot. Although
Sweden is keen on helping those living against such tough conditions, it is not
supporting current works. This makes for a tough debate, as Sweden gets cast
off as not caring about developing countries, of whom the majority support such
UN resolutions. We are extremely pressured by those who defame us by calling
out that we do not support developing countries which simply isn’t the case. The
proposed manner of action is too extreme and harsh for Sweden to vote for it.
We will stay true to EU policies, and try to combat this defamation in accordance
to other treaties and agreements previously agreed upon. However we will not at
any point support resolutions aiming to restrict the rights of the people of
expression. Working with other EU member states, we will try to draft or support
resolutions for the common good, not pitting a minority against a majority, or
minority groups against themselves.
Sweden has had to deal with the immigration of many muslim minorities, who
seek refuge from persecution elsewhere. As this number steadily grows, so does
the conflict within Sweden. However, in dealing with these crises, Sweden
maintains the view of human rights at issue, not a religious issue. We fully
support the use of control by protecting individuals being attacked and a swift
penalty for those committing crimes like such. By allowing freedoms of
expression, and not blocking the rights of others, we have been able to deal with
such issues by helping those being attacked, and not silencing others. This helps
to create a fair judgement system, helping us to help those in need.
Sweden looks forward to this convention, hoping it can create effective
resolutions to disarm those who commit such acts, while preserving the sanctity
of the UN. The delegation of Sweden aims to protect those wrongly targeted and
victimized all the while not persecuting religious groups because of the actions of
the few.