FORUM: General Assembly I, SOCHUM QUESTION OF: Defamation of Religion SUBMITTED BY: South Korea CO-SUBMITTED BY: Argentina,

Germany, United States THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, Reaffirming the UN Charter and United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR), which promote and encourage universal observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction to race, sex, language or religion, Recalling the General Assemblys previous resolutions and statements concerning Defamation of Religion, particularly that of July, 2011, in which the Human Rights Committee declared Defamation of Religion as incompatible with the Covenant (Article 49), Condemning both the recent incidents of insensitivity and the violent acts of retaliation, Further denouncing member states which misuse prohibitive laws to deny the rights of its people and asserting that the prohibition of free speech and expression does not result in religious tolerance, Recognizing the need to define religious defamation in order to prevent further abuse of legislation and protect the sovereignty of various individuals identifying with any religion, Underlining the importance of education to promote respect, tolerance and understanding to the public, as it is essential to the global peace effort, Emphasizing that respect for individuals and their protection from any derivative of hatecrime is also an essential element for the exercising of their rights, 1. Defines that human rights and specifically defamation refer only to the interests of human individuals and not concepts, ideas, or belief systems; and that religion is a subject of abstraction thus highly volatile in comprehension and not definable by defamation, 1. Urges member states to take actions that protect individuals from being victimized for his or her perceived membership in a certain religion including: i. discouraging, within the confines of the UNDHR, the dissemination of discriminatory ideas and materials which may pose as a threat to public safety, ii. enforcing legislation as defined by each nations own laws that prohibit any form of libel, harassment, or abuse against an individual through the discretion of a due judicial process and defining such laws to pertain to individuals if none had already been ratified,

2. Encourages member states to nurture an environment constructive of the freedoms of religion and expression by means such as but not limited to: i. adopting tax deduction schemes and offering monetary subsidies toward registered religious groups that are civically engaged in their nation for increased cordial interaction between peoples of different faith, ii. emphasizing values of multiculturalism and tolerance to the public through positive use of the media and implementing such values into the education system for children, 3. Recommends the opening of an annual parliament of the worlds religions facilitated by the UN to encourage dialogue for pacification of conflicts, which shall be comprised of: i. a maximum of three elected representatives from each member state that accurately represents the religious demographic of its nation, ii. a Head of Parliament employed by the UNHRC who shall facilitate and ensure diplomatic procedures but remains uninvolved with the dialogue, iii. blocks that are determined by religious preference, not national sovereignty, so that the interests of the religious group may be best represented and not the sovereignty, 4. Reaffirms pre existing sanctions and the state of disapproval against nations that violate and disregard the UNDHR, 5. Decides to remain actively seized upon the matter.