OIC Chief meets Foreign Ministers of Denmark and Spain 3 Copenhagen

The Secretary General also touched upon the role of education in
promoting human rights, and the role of non-violent conflict
resolution in fostering a culture of peace, tolerance and mutual
understanding and in diminishing misperceptions and intolerance among
peoples of diverse religions, beliefs and cultural backgrounds.

He emphasized that in the exercise of the fundamental right of
freedom of expression, one should act with responsibility. He called
for the development of an internationally accepted code of ethics
within UNESCO, which would reflect a broad-based consensus and common
understanding.

The Secretary General stated that the OIC General Secretariat was
guided in its efforts by the existing international human rights
documents and particularly the provisions requesting all governments
to take measures against incitement to religious hatred.

He clarified that the OIC has no problem with freedom of expression;
on the contrary, it regards this freedom as a fundamental value and
advocates it in the Muslim world within the new vision of the
Organization. He underlined that the main argument of the OIC was
that the abuse of this right should not be allowed in a way to
contradict and violate the international human rights provisions.

The OIC Secretary General called on the EU (European Union) and OIC
Member States to reach a consensus at the UN General Assembly and the
Human Rights Council in this regard.

--SPA