EU Statement – UN Global Conference on Promoting Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue and Tolerance in Countering Hate Speech
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Mr President, distinguished delegates,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.
The Candidate Countries North Macedonia, Montenegro*, Albania*, the Republic of Moldova, as well as Armenia, Andorra, San Marino and the United Kingdom align themselves with this statement.
Thanks to the UN Nations Alliance of Civilisations, the UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, and the Kingdom of Morocco for bringing us together today.
We are joined in a belief that interreligious and intercultural dialogue are essential tools in breaking down barriers and building understanding.
Diversity is a core value of the European Union, and the EU actively supports initiatives which foster tolerance, cultural diversity and religious pluralism.
We do this because it is the right thing to do. But also because we know how poisonous hate speech can be in our societies, both offline and – increasingly – online.
Hate speech is a cross-cutting phenomenon, and as such it needs to be tackled with a comprehensive approach.
That means tackling all grounds of discrimination and violence, including religion or belief, sexual orientation or gender identity, ethnicity, nationality, caste or disability, extending to persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities.
It also involves engaging with diverse faiths, beliefs, and philosophical or cultural communities The EU does this through its structured dialogues with Churches, religious associations and non-confessional organisations.
We work with them as with Member States, international organisations, EU agencies and civil society. Only together are we best able to ensure respect for human rights, freedom, democracy, equality, rule of law and dignity.
This involves recognising the right of everyone to have – or not to have – a religion or belief, to change it or to manifest it, alone or in community with others; in public or private.
The EU condemns any form of discrimination, intolerance, violence, and persecution based on grounds of religion or belief and rejects any form of incitement to religious hatred.
At the same time, we stand for both the right to Freedom of Religion or Belief and the Freedom of Opinion and Expression, which extends to information and ideas that may offend, shock or disturb others, including criticism of religion, ideology, beliefs and institutions.
Any restriction on Freedom of Religion or Belief or Freedom of Expression must be provided by law, may only be imposed for the grounds set out in international human rights law, and must conform to the strict tests of necessity and proportionality.
Putting these things together, the EU has built action to combat hate speech into all of our strategies on combatting discrimination – from that on racism to that on gender.
Specifically, the EU is also committed to tailored, practical action to combat hate speech based on religion or belief, through the work of the Europe-wide coordinators on combatting anti-Muslim hatred and antisemitism.
10 years ago, in 2016, the EU established a High-Level Group on combatting hate speech and hate crime. This has actively promoted cooperation between public authorities and civil society organisations, through the drawing up of key guiding principles on cooperation between law enforcement authorities and civil society organisations.
And underpinning this work, the European Commission provides financial support to national authorities and civil society organisations working on hate speech, through its programme on Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values.
These are practical expressions of our effective commitment to ‘Promoting Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue and Tolerance in Countering Hate Speech’. We shall continue to work with partners to this effect.
Thank you.
- North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.