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Living, breathing, People deserve respect. Ideas don't.

I have seen many cases of criticism of religion equated with criticism of every person who happen to be tagged as person of that religion, and used as a reason to stifle speech.

In Canada and USA, the situation is reversed on free speech. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/derek-james-from/canadas-hypocr...

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Yes, the world isn't perfect and sometimes people misuse laws and authority. But there is no contradiction in the UN positions that we're talking about right now.

Is any criticism of Islam or the prophet a fair game as per your interpretation of those positions?

It is legally fair game, yes. The resolution makes no restriction on speech, and specifically calls out the importance of freedom of expression.

As I said, the only concrete obligation in the resolution is prohibiting discrimination. Speech is not discrimination, and the Human Rights Council has never claimed that it is.

Thanks. I will adjust my understanding of this point.

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