Condemnation around the world for Swiss vote to ban minarets

02 December 2009

Political leaders around the world, especially in Muslim countries, have condemned the decision by Swiss voters to ban the construction of minarets. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the ban was "deeply divisive" and "clearly discriminatory", and it was at odds with Switzerland's international legal obligations. Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who currently holds the presidency of the EU Council of Minister, wrote in his blog: "Questions could very well be raised within the UN about holding meetings and activities in Switzerland, even if the Geneva canton belonged to those which voted against the ban.” On Sunday, 57.5 percent of Swiss citizens voted in favor of a proposal that enshrines such in ban in the Swiss constitution.

Turkey’s President Abdullah Gül called it a disgrace for Switzerland. “It is an example of the increasing hostility towards Muslims in the West,” he said. Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan said the referendum vote reflected an increasingly “racist and fascist stance” in Europe. Islamophobia was a "crime against humanity," just like anti-Semitism, he said. In Cairo, Egypt's Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa said the ban was an attack on freedom of religion and an attempt to "hurt the feelings of the Islamic community inside and outside Switzerland." He called on Muslims in Switzerland to take legal action to try and reverse the ban.

Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey also expressed unease about Sunday’s vote and said the Swiss government was "very concerned" about the ban. "Each limitation on the co-existence of different cultures and religions also endangers our security," she said at an OSCE meeting in Athens, Greece, adding: "Provocation risks triggering other provocation and risks inflaming extremism.”

Meanwhile, members of the Dutch parliament rejected a motion tabled by representatives of an orthodox Christian party calling for a minaret ban in the Netherlands.

WJC and Inter-Faith Dialogue