MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/. The Rabat Plan of Action, adopted in 2012 to combat propaganda of national, racial, and religious hatred, is very important, but it needs a new impetus, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Miguel Angel Moratinos told TASS.

"Everybody really supports the Rabat Plan of Action," he noted. "It was a great proposal to combat hate, to really go further in the way to eliminate this hate speech, this polarization, etc. <…> I think now we have to give another impetus because we need to find a way how to protect freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief. We can have a complementary, more integrated approach, so that at the end we have a better result on the ground," the senior UN official pointed out.

According to him, the search for a balance between freedom of speech and freedom of religion must continue. He added that perhaps the time has come for a "Rabat Plan of Action 2."

"In the Western world, sometimes they think that the most important thing is to have the freedom of speech, the freedom of expression. And under this umbrella, everything can be done. They can insult, they can burn the Quran , you can do whatever you want because you are free," Moratinos emphasized. "But I say there should be some limitations to the freedom. The freedom ends when it violates the freedom of the other people," he pointed out.