Last month, the UN human rights council adopted a resolution
condemning "defamation of religion" as a human rights violation.
According to the text of the resolution, "Defamation of religion
is a serious affront to human dignity" that leads to "a
restriction on the freedom of [religions'] adherents." The
resolution was originally proposed by the 56-nation Organization
of the Islamic Conference (OIC), and was put to the human rights
council by Pakistan. It supports that it was aimed at such
things as the derogatory cartoons of the prophet Muhammad
published in a Danish newspaper three years ago. Germany opposed
the resolution. Speaking on behalf of the European Union, a
German spokesperson rejected the concept of "defamation of
religion" as not valid in a human rights context, because human
rights belonged to individuals, not to institutions or
religions. Many non-government organisations, both secular and
religious, also opposed the resolution. Ronald Lauder, president
of the World Jewish Congress, said that