The State of Qatar participated in the Extraordinary Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) which was convened on Monday via video conferencing on the recurrent incidences of desecrating and burning of the Holy Quran in Sweden and Denmark.

The Minister of State for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs HE Lolwah bint Rashid Al Khater represented the State of Qatar in the meeting.

In her remarks before the meeting, Her Excellency reiterated the State of Qatar’s strong condemnation of the crime of desecrating and burning the Holy Quran considering it a racial crime that aims to spread hatred feelings among people, calling for collective measures to prevent the recurrence of such crimes that contravene the international law and humanitarian values.

In this context, she announced that the State of Qatar supports and endorses the draft resolution submitted to this session, urging all states, international organisations, and civil society to take solidarity action to implement the items of the draft resolution and consider further measures in response to these hostile acts and prevent their recurrence.

The Minister of State for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the recurrence of crimes of desecrating and burning of the Holy Quran under the nose and protection of some governments indicates that they are neither individual, nor random incidences as some might portray.

She added that when extreme racists in western and eastern states intentionally underestimate the values of two billion Muslims, including Muslims of their own countries, they consequently pose a threat to the social peace in their countries, in addition to undermining dialogue among peoples and threatening peace and stability in the world, pointing out that the international community must stand united in the face of these subversive tendencies.

Her Excellency lauded the efforts of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres for standing up to Islamophobia, praising his message on the occasion of the International Day to Combat Islamophobia, stressing that curbing Islamophobia and tendencies of hatred and racism in general is a collective and joint responsibility for the international community that requires a robust and inclusive response, affirming that Islamic states have a double responsibility in this regard.