UNITED NATIONS- The High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), Miguel Ángel Moratinos, strongly condemns the anti-Muslim signs and racial graffiti that were spray-painted on the façade of the Moorhead-Fargo Islamic Community Center in Minnesota and discovered on Sunday morning. He notes that the vicious attack took place in the middle of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The center serves as a mosque and a community gathering place in Moorhead.
Moratinos stresses that no community should experience this kind of toxic hatred. He re-iterates that all forms of discrimination and acts of violence, targeting religious sites and places of worship as well as worshipers, regardless of their religion or belief, are unacceptable and unjustifiable.
The High-Representative recalls the UN Plan of Action to Safeguard Religious Sites developed by UNAOC and encourages governments and relevant stakeholders to support the implementation of its recommendations, which emphasize the universality of religious sites as symbols of our shared humanity, history, and traditions.
The High-Representative notes that the spirit of compassion, tolerance and unity inherent in Islam should inspire all of us. He re-iterates his solidarity with the Muslim community in Minnesota and wishes them a blessed and peaceful Ramadan.
