UN chief Antonio Guterres on Friday pledged action to help protect religious sites worldwide, during a visit to the first mosque built in New York city, one week after the New Zealand massacre that shocked the world.
"Mosques and all places of prayer and contemplation should be safe havens, not sites of terror," Guterres said. "Worshipers must feel safe to worship."
Guterres first spoke at Friday prayers in the mosque at the Islamic Cultural Center in Manhattan and then addressed the media at its school. He was surrounded there by the imam and more than a dozen UN ambassadors from Muslim and non-Muslim countries including New Zealand and Australia, where the white supremacist who gunned down victims at the two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand was born.
Speaking to reporters, the UN Secretary-General announced that he had tasked Spanish diplomat Miguel Moratinos with the drafting of an action plan for the United Nations to support efforts to protect religious sites.
Moratinos heads the UN Alliance of Civilizations, a group that seeks to foster better understanding between cultures and societies.
The group will reach out to governments, religious leaders and organizations to explore actions to prevent such attacks as the Christchurch shooting that left 50 dead.
Guterres said the attack on the two mosques in New Zealand was "utterly appalling" but "perhaps not utterly surprising", citing the rise of anti-Muslim hatred, anti-Semitism and bigotry.
"Hate speech is spreading like wildfire," he said.
Social media is being exploited to spread bigotry while many political movements either openly admit to being neo-Nazi or are "lip syncing their words," he added.
The UN chief spoke of the victims of the Christchurch shooting, some of whom lost their lives saving others, and said he was "deeply moved by the extraordinary display of leadership, love and community from the people of New Zealand."
He recalled that a worshiper who saw a stranger walk into one of the Christchurch mosques said "Hello, brother," not knowing he was a terrorist.
"This is the spirit deeply embedded in Islam, a religion I so much respect — the face of love, compassion, forgiveness, mercy and grace," the UN chief said.
