NEW YORK — Saudi Arabia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Abdullah Bin Yahya Al-Muallami stressed the need to protect human rights, especially in the circumstances the world is currently going through due to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. He expressed his concern about the growing phenomenon of Islamophobia and the escalation of hate speech against Muslims in some regions of the world and called for the need to address practices of discrimination and racism against Muslims and the persecution they face for unreasonable and unacceptable reasons. Al-Muallami made the remarks in a speech during the recently held virtual meeting of the ambassadors of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in New York. The ambassador highlighted Saudi Arabia’s stances in promoting a culture of dialogue among followers of religions, rejecting all manifestations of violence. He said that the Kingdom supports the positions of Islamic countries within the framework of the OIC to reject discrimination and racism practiced against Muslims in some countries of the world, and that their human rights must be safeguarded. The meeting was attended by the head of the special political issues committee, and the head of the International Organizations Department of the Kingdom’s delegation Faisal Bin Nasser Al-Haqbani. Ambassadors of the group also heard a briefing from the permanent representative of the state of Palestine, Minister Riyad Mansour, on the latest developments on the Palestinian issue, highlighting Israeli violations in the occupied Palestinian territories and the expansionist intentions of the Israeli occupation forces to annex more lands in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley, which is a clear violation of the international resolutions, undermining international peace efforts. The Islamic group also heard a briefing from the permanent representative Pakistan, Ambassador Munir Akram, on the escalation of Islamophobia and hate speech and incitement against Muslims in a number of European countries. He touched up on incidents of discrimination and racism practiced against Muslims by some extreme right-wing parties in Europe, especially in light of the crisis brought about by the epidemic.