Death Knell For Freedom of Speech

The UN Special Rapporteurs on Human Rights are individuals who work on behalf of the United Nations to investigate, monitor and recommend solutions to human rights problems across the world. One of the mandates under which these individuals serve is ensuring the freedom of opinion and expression in all countries.

On the 28th of January 2009, The Independent newspaper in UK published an article “Why should I respect these oppressive religions” by Mr. Johann Hari wh0 reported on a surprising development in the United Nations. Mr. Hari pointed out that in the past year, the job description of the special rapporteur was changed by a coalition of religious fundamentalist states to report on “abuses of free expression” including “defamation of religions and prophets.”

In his article, Mr. Hari, exposed the not-so-sacred agenda of some Islamic and Christian fundamentalist countries like Saudi Arabia and the Vatican to restrict the right to freedom of speech under the guise of respect for the sensibilities of the religious. He also went on to question inane religious beliefs and argued that respect for such beliefs should not and cannot be our default position. He finally concluded that. [Nitwit Nastik] Read more