Several Muslim and African states have proposed to denounce bans against minaret construction as ‘Islamophobic’ as part of a UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution on religious defamation. According to Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesperson Raphaël Saborit, “in principle Switzerland disagrees with the concept of a resolution devoted to the defamation of religion,” as religious freedom ought to protect individual rights to practise one’s own religion, and not the religion itself.
