Poland leads UN initiative against violence based on religion

The UN General Assembly at a session in New York on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution designating August 22 as international day to commemorate victims of violence based on religion, the foreign ministry in Warsaw said.

It quoted Poland's top diplomat Jacek Czaputowicz as saying during the gathering that “the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, which is commonly referred to as the right to freedom of religion or belief, is a universal right of every human being and the cornerstone of many other rights.”

During his keynote speech in New York on Tuesday, the Polish foreign minister spoke about growing intolerance and an unprecedented increase in the number of acts of violence against people belonging to religious minorities, the Polish foreign ministry said on its website.

It added that Czaputowicz “pointed to the difficult situation of the victims of religious persecutions, who are often left without help and support.”

Work on the resolution started at the end of last year as an initiative by Poland, according to the foreign ministry in Warsaw. It said the text was co-drafted by an interregional group of states bringing together Brazil, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Canada, Nigeria, Pakistan, and the United States.

“The establishment of the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief is a big success of Polish diplomacy,” the foreign ministry in Warsaw said.

(gs)

Source: gov.pl