UNESCO denies declaring Islam ‘most peaceful religion’ -- and the story originated on a satirical website
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on July 16, 2019 at 10:30
- 3 min read
- By AFP Philippines
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The claim was made in this Facebook post on July 8, 2019, on a page based in the Philippines.
The post states the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) issued a certificate dated July 4, 2016 declaring Islam “the most peaceful religion of the world”.
The post include an image of a purported “Certificate of Peace” with an apparent signature from UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.
Below is a screenshot of the false Facebook post:
The post states in part: “PARIS: In a major development that should silence critics of Islam who have been blaming it for terrorism, UNESCO has declared that Islam is the most peaceful religion of the world.
“The United Nations body released a statement earlier today that revealed that UNESCO had partnered with International Peace Foundation six months back to study all religions of the world and find out which was most peaceful amongst all.”
A similar false claim received thousands of shares after being posted here on a Facebook account based in Nigeria; in a post here on a Facebook account based in India; and here on a Facebook account based in Sweden. It was also shared on Twitter here.
Some of the posts include this link to an article on a satirical site named Junta Ka Reporter, which includes identical text to the misleading social media posts.
The claim in the social media posts is false; UNESCO has denied naming Islam “the most peaceful religion of the world”.
UNESCO issued this statement countering the false claim in the social media posts on July 11, 2016.
It states in part: “We wish to refer to the recent allegations posted on the website juntakareporter, citing an alleged statement and certificate from UNESCO declaring 'Islam as the most peaceful religion of the world'. Such statement was never made by the Organization and that the certificate reproduced on this website is a fake one. The website that published this information is a satirical media.
“UNESCO has never had any official relationship with the entity referred to as 'International Peace Foundation', nor has it ever supported such a statement or granted any diploma of this kind."
Below is a screenshot of the statement:
AFP searched UNESCO’s official website with keywords “Islam is the most peaceful religion of the world” and the top result was UNESCO’s denial above. No search results showed such statement.
Junta Ka Reporter has a disclaimer on its website here which states its content is satirical.
The disclaimer says: “You seriously believe this shit is real? Before you sue us, do a favor to your intelligence and realize that it is a satire website. Everything published here is made up. But if you are still that stupid and hurt, we are sorry”.
Below is a screenshot of the site’s disclaimer:
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