I cried… during your speech

Yesterday, on my 37th birthday, I was Guest Speaker at a side event on Maldives at the 21st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council taking place from 10 to 28 September in Geneva Switzerland.

My topic was rising Islamic extremism in Maldives and how it is threatening human rights in Maldives.

Delegates and diplomats later met me and said that my speech “was great” and that they didn’t know before that Maldives was in such deeply troubled waters.

“Thank you for coming here and telling us. I cried while listening to you during your speech,” a Kashmir delegate said to me.

“Now I keep quiet about my Muslim identity because everywhere you travel around the world, Muslims are now seen in a bad light after the September 11 attacks on the United States,” she said.

“It’s time we save Islam from extremism,” said another delegate.

A Canadian delegate today told me that “freedom of religion and LGBT rights are the top two issues currently of concern to Canada” and that she’s “really happy Maldives is trying to come to terms with it.”

Via Hilath.com

Posted in: Politics / Religion,Society,True Stories