Protesters gather in Baghdad's Tahrir Square, carrying Iraqi flags and images of influential Iraqi Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr, July 22, 2023, following reports of the burning of a Quran carried out by an ultranationalist group in front of the Iraqi Embassy in Copenhagen. (PHOTO / AP)
BAGHDAD – The Iraqi Foreign Ministry welcomed on Wednesday the approval by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) of a resolution on promoting interreligious and intercultural dialogues to counter hate speech.
"Insults to and contempt for beliefs and religions can lead to polarization in societies and cause extreme tensions that end later in expressing contempt, provoking anger and strife among peoples, and transforming differences in concepts into hatred and violence," the ministry said in a statement.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein stressed that freedom of expression should not affect other freedoms and that such actions are inconsistent with human dignity and rights
It stressed in the statement the need to combat hatred in all forms, calling on all countries to intensify their efforts to address this phenomenon in line with international human rights law.
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The UN resolution, approved by the UNGA earlier in the day, came after extremists set fire to copies of the Quran in Sweden and Denmark, sparking furious protests in Baghdad and prompting the Iraqi government to expel the Swedish ambassador.
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Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein received a phone call on Wednesday from his Danish counterpart Lars Lokke Rasmussen, during which Hussein condemned the burning and desecration of the Quran and the Iraqi flag in Denmark's capital Copenhagen, the statement noted.
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Hussein stressed that "freedom of expression should not affect other freedoms and that such actions are inconsistent with human dignity and rights."
For his part, Rasmussen denounced the desecration of the Muslim holy book, stressing that the Danish government strongly rejects such anti-Muslim acts, the statement added.