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In July of 2015, the UAE adopted This may lie in the UAE's concep-
Federal Law No 02 of 2015 on Com-
bating Discrimination and Hatred tion of tolerance. One of the five
to protect all religions against hate,
religious intolerance and discrimi- main pillars of the Year of Tolerance
programme is "to deepen the values
nation. It defines "hate speech" as of tolerance and co-existence among
cultures by teaching the youth the
"any speech or conduct which may
incite sedition, prejudicial action or values of tolerance."(3) The message
discrimination among individuals or of the Ministry of Tolerance is to
emphasize mutual respect, peaceful
ltgt'oup5."(1) also criminalizes blas- coexistence, a rejection of violence,
phemy defined as "any act of insult- discrimination and hatred, and to en-
ing or showing contempt for Cod, courage dialogue between religions.
to religions, prophets or messengert This approach thus considers that the
holy books or places of worsh tp."(z)
acts of insulting or degrading one's
lmmediately, a number of differ- religious belief, and not simply the
ences are clear when compared to the person who holds this belief, as equal-
United States and Australia. The UAE ly opposed to the goals of the toler-
does not take a libertarian approach, ance policy. lnsults and degradation
like the US does, to the principles of may foment hatred and resentment
freedom of speech in particular, while
amongst other comm unities, perhaps
it does place some emphasis on the indirectly inciting violence and ten-
importance of the freedom to mani- sion between communities, and thus
fest one's religious rituals and the this is viewed as a legitimate limita-
protection of that freedom. The ap- tion upon the rights to freedom of re-
ligion and freedom of expression. This
proach of the UAE may be closer to
the Australian model, which recog- is in stark contrast to the approach
nizes the harm of hate speech upon
communities. However, the UAE also taken by both the United States and
considers that some forms of unac-
ceptable speech or manifestations of Australia, as the ability to be able to
religion are those that insult the be-
liefs of othert and not just the per- discuss, critique, and even insult, any
sons who hold those beliefs. and all ideas is of paramount impor-
1- Article 1, Federal Decree Law No 02 of 2015, tance.
lssued on 15107 12015
3- The UAE Covernment, "Tolerance
2- tbid.
lnitiatives," The Official Portal of the UAE
Covernment, accessed April 22, 2019,
h ttps://www.govern men t.aelen /abo ut-
th e- uae/cu I t ure lto I eran ce I tolerance-
initiatives.
Freedom of Retigion, Limits on Hate Speech, and Promoting Toterance: A
