On Wednesday, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution condemning acts of religious hatred such as the burning of the Quran, even though several countries considered it endangered freedom of expression.

The decision was issued after an urgent discussion requested by Pakistan on behalf of a number of OIC countries after the burning of the Holy Qur’an in Sweden.

The resolution was approved by 28 members of the Council out of 47, including China, Ukraine and most African countries, while seven members abstained and twelve voted against, including France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The resolution condemns "any advocacy and display of religious hatred, including recent activities, overt and deliberate, that have led to the desanctification of the Qur'an" and calls on states to adopt laws that allow them to hold accountable those responsible for such acts.

It requests the United Nations to identify countries that do not have such legislation and to organize a round table of experts to discuss the issue.

Pakistani Ambassador Khalil Hashemi saw it as a balanced text that does not point fingers at any country.

However, a number of Western countries expressed during the debates their opposition to the anti-blasphemy laws, and at the same time strongly denounced the burning of the Qur'an in Sweden.

The United States, the European Union and Britain called for a vote against the resolution.

"We regret having to vote against this unbalanced text, but it contradicts positions we have long taken on freedom of expression," said US Ambassador Michele Taylor.

Some Latin American countries, including Mexico and Honduras, abstained, arguing, like Western countries, that more time needed to be spent on negotiating and reaching a consensus.

Before the vote, Mexico affirmed that "any expression of criticism of religions does not in itself constitute incitement to violence and discrimination."

On June 28, an Iraqi refugee in Sweden burned pages from the Koran in front of the largest mosque in Stockholm during Eid al-Adha.

The Swedish police had allowed the assembly during which pages of the Koran were burned, but later opened an investigation into "incitement against an ethnic group" because the burning took place in front of a mosque.

This incident sparked a chain reaction in the Islamic world.