UNCHR speech on Ake Green, April 14, 2005United Nations 61st Commission on Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland
Item 14 (a) : Protection of Specific Individuals and Groups--Minorities
Speaker: Mr. Peng Voong
Mr. Chairman,
Sweden’s Law Against Expression of Disrespect
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is an international legal and educational institute that defends the free expression of all religious traditions. Our past clients have included Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists and Zoroastrians. We draw the Commission’s attention to Chapter 16, section 8 of Sweden’s criminal code. This law prohibits the expression of “disrespect“ towards favored minority groups. The law carries a penalty of up to four years of imprisonment. It requires no evidence of incitement to violence and lacks any objective standard for identifying disrespect. Its supporters argue that it will create greater tolerance of distinct national, ethnic, religious and social groups, but it will not. Instead, it is a dangerous mechanism for censorship that will foster intolerance towards disfavored minorities.
The Government’s Prosecution of Pastor Ake Green
Last year, a Swedish court sentenced Pastor Ake Green to one month in prison for publishing a sermon that contained “contemptuous expression” towards homosexuals. In February, an appeals court overturned the conviction stating that “it is not the role of a government composed of men to declare what is orthodoxy by punishing those who publicly teach one religious view of what is right, even if that view may offend others.” (emphasis added).
However, the government rejected this reasoning and is now petitioning Sweden’s Supreme Court to reexamine the case.
Toleration of Minority Views The late Pope John Paul II also dissented from popularly held views on homosexual behavior, abortion, and divorce. Yet, last week UN Secretary General Kofi Annan praised him for his “irreplaceable voice speaking out for . . . mutual respect . . . .” The Secretary General recognized that though the Pope held controversial views, he also espoused a commitment to respecting the voices of others, even when he believed they were in the wrong. Similarly, the law must respect all peaceful voices, even those that are unpopular.
Sweden’s law infringes not only upon Pastor Green’s freedom, but upon the freedom of all Swedish citizens to speak their consciences. The right to enjoy a freedom can only be as secure as it is for the smallest minority--the individual.
German pastor Martin Niemoller recognized this truth in a poem that he wrote after World War II about the need to protect our neighbors’ voices.
They came first for the Communists and I didn't speak up
because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews and I didn't
speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for
the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they
came for me--and by that time no one was left to speak up.
In pluralistic societies, very few values are shared by all. Often times the only shared value is the belief that we must respect each other’s differences. Countries, like Sweden, that genuinely desire open dialogue between diverse groups do so best by strenuously protecting freedom of expression for all.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
www.becketfund.org
1350 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 605 Washington DC 20036, USA
Contact Person: Emilie Kao, Legal Counsel and Director of International Advocacy
ekao@becketfund.org * US Tel: 001.202.955.0095 (x209) Relevant Cases
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