UN Security Council finally passes resolution condemning antisemitism
UK-UAE drafted resolution 2686 on Tolerance and International Peace and Security addressed concern at hate speech and incitement to violence.
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
The United Nations Security Council has unanimously passed a joint United Kingdom-United Arab Emirates drafted resolution that for the first time in the 77-year history of the body condemns antisemitism.
The resolution, officially numbered Security Council resolution 2686 on Tolerance and International Peace and Security addressed concern at hate speech and incitement to violence.
It also called for action on the persecution of religious and other minorities in conflict settings – a key find of the report commissioned by Jeremy Hunt as foreign secretary from the Bishop of Truro.
The text of the resolution includes an expression of “deep concern at instances of discrimination, intolerance and hate speech motivated by racism or extremism or directed against persons belonging to religious communities, including cases motivated by Islamophobia, antisemitism or Christianophobia.”
A spokesperson for the UAE , which has taken strides in recent years to address antisemitism, and encouraging the growth of a Jewish community, said of the text: “Among a number of other firsts, resolution 2686 is the first UN Security Council resolution to directly refer to antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Christianophobia, and also the first resolution to acknowledge that hate speech, racism, and extremism have the potential to stoke tensions, fuel grievances, and descend into conflict.
“The resolution acknowledges these phenomena as threat-multipliers and really is an unprecedented step forward for the Council.”
The resolution, passed by security council on June 14th, cites the 2019 meeting in Abu Dhabi between Pope Francis and Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Egypt’s al-Azhar Mosque.
This was which was the starting point for the UAE’s creation of the Abrahamic Family House religious site which includes the first purpose-built synagogue constructed in the Arab world in nearly a century.
Commenting on resolutions adoption the UK deputy permanent representative Ambassador Kariuki said:”Freedom of religion or belief, including the freedom not to have a religion, is a fundamental human right.
“And yet religious minorities have time and time again been specifically targeted.”
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