UN Human Rights Council to hold urgent debate on recent desecration of Muslim holy book

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - The UN Human Rights Council has said that it will hold an urgent debate on the recent desecration of the Muslim holy book, the Quran, in Sweden.

The urgent debate will be held on July 11 in Geneva, the council said in a statement, adding that the "alarming rise in premeditated and public acts of religious hatred as manifested by recurrent desecration of the Holy Quran in some European and other countries," will be discussed.

The urgent debate has been scheduled in response to an official request by Pakistan on behalf of member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), including those that are members of the Human Rights Council, according to the statement.

This will be the Human Rights Council's 9th urgent debate since its inception in 2006.

In a statement on behalf of OIC, Pakistan’s Ambassador Khalil Hashmi said: "We see this urgent debate and its outcome as an opportunity to demonstrate this Council's unity, mutual respect and understanding and to reach consensus on a forward-looking text."

"We count on the Council members to support the holding of this debate and lend support to an outcome that charts a clear path to address acts and advocacy of hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, that the world confronts today," Hashmi said.

Last week, a 37-year-old man of Iraqi origin, Salwan Momika, under police protection, burned a copy of the Muslim holy book in front of a Stockholm mosque.

The act was deliberately timed to coincide with Eid al-Adha, a significant Islamic religious festival observed by Muslims worldwide.

The incident has sparked widespread condemnation from several countries, including Türkiye, with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation calling for collective measures to prevent such acts.