We are delighted for the strong support statement issued by Italian undersecretary at the Ministry of Interior Ivan Scalfarotto, emphasising the timely importance of our proposed treaty to deal with the current challenges in Afghanistan.
Scalfarotto said in a statement widely published in Italian media and other countries, that what happened in Kabul “reaffirms the need to adopt common international rules so that in the future it will be possible to speak with one voice and face this crisis and other threats to world peace”.
We hope that Scalfarotto will build support for the proposed treat in the Italian cabinet, especially as our large group of legislative supporters, led by senator Roberto Rampi, have already appealed to Prime Minister Mario Draghi to adopt our proposed treaty on the international stage.
Here is the English translation of the statement issued by undersecretary Ivan Scalfarotto:
“The Taliban are the most evident and hateful manifestation of the political use of religion, the sheer enforcement of a creed turned into a law and instantly applicable to anyone who does not comply.
This use of religion is the first enemy of religion, as excluding or punishing on the basis of a belief affects other believers in most cases. Those who wield religion as a political weapon often begin by attacking their own people. The use of religion in politics often serves to legitimise, with an instrumental use of faith, totalitarianism, fanaticism, violence and terrorism.
BPUR International (www.bpur.org) is a non-governmental organization, which I support, committed to promoting an international treaty to ban the political use of religion when it leads to religious discrimination, threatens freedoms or human rights or when it imposes bans on religious freedom.
I believe that among the many things that the Afghan tragedy we are witnessing is teaching and compelling us to do, is that there should be a commitment of all people of good will, believers and non-believers, and the assumption of legal obligation by the international community to ensure that nowhere in the world crimes against humanity can be perpetrated in the name of a faith or an interpretation of it.
The bad news coming from Kabul reaffirms the need to adopt common international rules so that in the future it will be possible to speak with one voice and face this crisis and other threats to world peace.
These rules also have the purpose of inducing both the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan and the major world powers not to pursue political agenda that indulge or are founded on discrimination and violations of fundamental human rights”.
