"Islam is seen as a religion of peace," said UN Deputy Secretary-General, High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) Miguel Ángel Moratinos in his video appeal addressed to an international conference on "Islamophobia as a specific form of racism and discrimination, Ednews reports.
According to him, last year, the UN announced March 15 as the International Day of Combating Islamophobia. "Islamophobia is not only against the Islamic religion and Muslim society, it is a phobia, it means being against people and human rights.
I hope that important messages will be delivered today and tomorrow through the conference regarding respect for Islam, joint struggle against Islamophobia, and the inadmissibility of hatred and discrimination against any religion," the UN official stressed.