Editing Blasphemy (section)

====Failed OIC anti-blasphemy campaign at UN====
{{anchor |  UN  | IOC campaign | IOC UN campaign | Islamic Cooperation's UN campaign }}
{{Main|Blasphemy and the United Nations}}

The campaign for worldwide criminal penalties for the "defamation of religions" had been spearheaded by [[Organisation of Islamic Cooperation]] (OIC) on behalf of the United Nations' large Muslim bloc. The campaign ended in 2011 when the proposal was withdrawn in Geneva, in the Human Rights Council because of lack of support, marking an end to the effort to establish worldwide blasphemy strictures along the lines of those in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. This resolution had passed every year since 1999, in the United Nations, with declining number of "yes" votes with each successive year.<ref name=failed1>[http://www.nationalreview.com/article/263450/anti-blasphemy-measure-laid-rest-nina-shea An Anti-Blasphemy Measure Laid to Rest] Nina Shea, National Review (31 March 2011)</ref> In the early 21st century, blasphemy became an issue in the [[United Nations]] (UN). The United Nations passed several resolutions which called upon the world to take action against the "defamation of religions".<ref>U.N. Resolutions:
* [http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=A/RES/60/150&Lang=E A/RES/60/150]
* [http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=A/60/PV.64&Lang=E Vote on 16 December 2005 (A/60/PV.64)]
</ref> However, in July 2011, the [[UN Human Rights Committee]] (UNHRC) released a 52-paragraph statement which affirmed the freedom of speech and rejected the laws banning "display of lack of respect for a religion or other belief system'.<ref name=failed2>[http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/GC34.pdf General Comment 34]</ref>