Rome, SANA- Speaker of Arab Parliament, Mohammad bin Ahmad al-Yammahi, called for launch of an international parliamentary charter to criminalize contempt of religions.
That came during the 2nd Parliamentary Conference on Interfaith Dialogue, organized by Inter-Parliamentary Union “IPU” in cooperation with Italian Parliament in Rome.
In his speech, al-Yammahi underlined that promoting interfaith dialogue cannot be achieved without a confrontation of phenomenon of insulting religious symbols and sanctities, which is committed under the pretext of expression freedom, but actually it increases hatred and threatens societal and international peace.
He stressed all religions call for coexistence and prohibit hatred, noting that the danger lies in exploiting the religion for political and racist purposes, and also in extremist behaviors that feed hostile discourse.
The speaker also underscored the important role of parliamentarians in enacting legislation that protects freedom of belief and criminalizes hate speech, in addition to supporting educational and media initiatives that promote culture of tolerance.
He concluded his remarks by affirming that interfaith dialogue is a humanitarian necessity for achieving stability, calling for courageous stances that rise human dignity and uphold human dignity, regardless of religion or belief.
Rafah al-Allouni/ Manar Salameh
