Rollback #9: Vienna, November 10-11: The next battle against Shariah at the OSCE

On 28 October the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) held a conference in Vienna on "confronting intolerance and discrimination against Muslims in public discourse."  Among the featured speakers was Special Adviser to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Ömür Orhun.  The OIC has been persistent in its efforts to combat any free and open debate about Islam and Shariah.

Free speech advocate Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff represented Pax Europa at the conference insisting that:

…criticism of a religion, including Islam, must remain legitimate. This is echoed by the OSCE: "Criticisms of religious practices (just religious practices, not religions themselves?; BPE) are legitimate speech." We believe, however, that while Muslims are not a monolithic group, for those Muslims who accept Islam as an ideology, there are elements of Islamic law that are monolithic, in that all Muslims worldwide, whether they live in Europe, Asia, Africa, or America, consider the Koran and the Hadith (authentic sayings of Mohammed) as the basis of their legal system. Certainly groups like the Muslim Brotherhood profess this! How are groups like Pax Europa to discuss such issues if not allowed to speak to the language and doctrines that define them?

Despite this the OSCE released a 72-page document entitled Guidelines for Educators on Countering Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims: Addressing Islamophobia through Education co-published by ODIHR, the Council of Europe and UNESCO.  It is interesting to note that UNESCO today recognized and admitted "Palestine" as a member state despite the governance of the annihilationist Islamic movement Hamas in Gaza and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority which continues to incite violence against Jews in media and textbooks.

"The first of its kind, this document addresses the specific characteristics of intolerance against Muslims and provides practical guidance to educators on how to address this issue in the classroom," said Janez Lenari, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

The OSCE is holding a similar meeting on November 10-11 in Vienna entitled "Prevention of Racism, Xenophobia and Hate Crimes through Educational and Awareness-Raising Initiatives."  Unfortunately due to the dominance at the OSCE of bad actors such as the Turkish organization Council for Justice, Equality and Peace (COJEP), these meetings focus inordinate attention on "Islamophobia" and essentially advocate for enforcing Shariah blasphemy codes on non-Muslim nation-states that infringe upon basic free speech rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Any non-governmental organization (NGO) can register, and your base of operations need not be Europe.  The OSCE describes itself as "the world’s largest regional security organization" whose membership includes "56 States from Europe, Central Asia and North America," including the United States.  We encourage all free-speech minded NGO’s to register here for the next conference starting on November 10.  The registration deadline is technically tomorrow, but the OSCE regularly allows late registration.