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Oman: Racism challenges UN Charter and human rights declaration

April 1, 2023 at 10:24 am

Rasmus Paludan, a far-right Danish politician is being protected by Danish policemen as he makes a statement before burning a copy of the Quran in front of Turkish Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark on January 27, 2022 [Muhammet İkbal Arslan/Anadolu Agency]

The Sultanate of Oman stressed on Friday that racism poses a challenge to the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This came in a speech by the sultanate’s delegation at the 52nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in the Swiss city of Geneva, according to the official Oman News Agency.

The delegation stated: “The continuation of hatred and intolerance increases the possibility of depriving people and nations of their rights to development and well-being for ethnic or religious reasons, as their rights are affected by stigmatisation, humiliation, non-integration or isolation.”

In its speech, the delegation focused on the: “Discrimination that Muslims in many countries are subjected to, whether against their persons or against their religious symbols and provocations, such as burning copies of the Holy Qur’an under the pretext of freedom of expression.”

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“Racism poses a challenge to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, destabilises societies, weakens governments, impedes development opportunities, and undermines the integration of peoples,” it added.

The delegation noted the: “Experiences of the Sultanate of Oman in this field and its many initiatives. They stem from a well-established policy and guidelines based on supporting a culture of coexistence and spreading tolerance among peoples.”

Recently, there have been many attempts to burn copies of the Qur’an in European countries, the latest of which was on Friday, when an extremist and anti-Islam group burned the Turkish flag and the Holy Qur’an in front of the Turkish embassy in the Danish capital, Copenhagen.

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