The UN Human Rights Council has narrowly passed a resolution condemning Islamophobic behaviour, including Switzerland's minaret building ban, despite some states' major reservations.
The resolution, which was criticised by the United States as "an instrument of division", "strongly condemns... the ban on the construction of minarets of mosques and other recent discriminatory measures" passed in November.
These measures "are manifestations of Islamophobia that stand in sharp contradiction to international human rights obligations concerning freedoms of religions," said the resolution.
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'Dangerous consequences'
Such acts would "fuel discrimination, extremism and misperception leading to polarisation and fragmentation with
dangerous unintended and unforeseen consequences," it charged.
Some 20 countries on Thursday voted in favour of the resolution entitled "combating defamation of religions", 17 voted against and eight abstained.
The resolution also "expresses deep concern ... that Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism."
It "regrets the laws or administrative measures specifically designed to control and monitor Muslim minorities, thereby stigmatising them and legitimising the discrimination they experience."
Putting forward the resolution on behalf of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, Pakistan's ambassador Zamir Akram said that the specific references to Islam in the text "reflect the existing regrettable situation in some parts of the world where Muslims are being targeted."
Resolution 'may be misused'
However, the United States and the European Union pointed out that the concept of defamation did not square with discrimination and warned that the resolution could be misused to hinder freedom of speech.
"The European Union believes that reconciling the notion of defamation with discrimination is a problematic endeavour," French ambassador Jean-Baptiste Mattei said on behalf of the bloc.
The United States also slammed the resolution as an "ineffective way to address" concerns about discrimination and said that it "cannot agree with prohibiting speech" as a method to fight discrimination.
