Austrian United Nations anti-torture envoy Manfred Nowak in an interview published on Monday warned that societies must not put God above human rights.
”If one accepts that divine law is higher than international law, we can close shop. That goes for [US President] George Bush and equally for Islamic states. Religion should have a certain influence on society, but not stand above human rights and international law,” said Nowak in the Vienna newspaper Kurier.
”That concerns the treatment of homosexuals by Christians, and application of the sharia [Islamic law] in Islam,” the UN’s special rapporteur on torture said.
On globalisation, he stressed that it is happening whether people like it or not. But there is a tendency towards globalisation under the banner of neoliberalism, which means there is a weakening of states.
”If in their place come multinational concerns which are difficult to commit to human rights, then things become dangerous.”
Asked how one could justify globalisation to a European worker whose factory has been transferred to a low-wage Asian country, Nowak said the top international priority is the fight against poverty.
”By poverty, I don’t just mean hunger. Those are poor who cannot take part in the development of society. Politics must intervene in that.”
On immigration and integration, Nowak said democratic societies in the West should be able to tolerate such things as Islamic headscarves.
”There are other ways of supporting Islamic women and girls than banning headscarves.”
Strict action should instead be taken against forced marriages and ”murders of honour”. The authorities must intervene in families where there is violence against women, he told the newspaper. — Sapa-DPA