GENEVA: The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council will hold an emergency session to discuss the desecration of the Holy Quran following an incident in Sweden’s capital, Stockholm, that sparked global outrage, a spokesman said on Tuesday.
The development comes after a Christian man, who fled from Iraq to Sweden many years ago, burned a copy of the Holy Quran outside Stockholm’s central mosque as Muslims across the world began marking the Eid Al-Adha holiday.
The act drew strong condemnation and criticism from various countries, including Turkiye, Pakistan, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Iran.
The UN Human Rights Council will change its agenda to hold an urgent debate following a request for debate from Pakistan.
UN Rights Council Meeting on Pakistan’s Request
The UN Human Rights Council has announced that it will convene an emergency debate to address the concerning increase in premeditated and public acts of religious hatred, specifically highlighting the ongoing desecration of the Holy Quran in certain European and other nations. Pascal Sim, the spokesman for the rights council, stated that this urgent meeting was requested by Pakistan on behalf of several members of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), including those who are also members of the Human Rights Council.
According to Pascal Sim, the spokesman for the rights council, it is highly probable that the meeting will take place this week, with the specific date and time to be decided by the Human Rights Council bureau, which is scheduled to convene today. The Human Rights Council consists of 47 member states and is currently in the second session of its regular annual sessions.
