Prepared by the organization’s Islamophobia Observatory, sources said the report covers the period from May 2010 to April 2011 and catalogs intolerance and discrimination against Muslims and reveals a rise in Islamophobic discourse within both the public and political domains.
Based on the Observatory’s daily monitoring during the reporting period Western media, right-wing political movements and parties are taking advantage of people’s ignorance of true Islamic values to fuel Islamophobia in Europe and the United States.
The trend manifests itself in various forms, including direct attacks and desecration of Muslim places of worship, cemeteries and other Islamic centers along with a growing public perception that Muslims constitute a threat both to culture and well being of Western society and that Islamic religious symbols, particularly the head scarf and burqa, should be strictly limited or completely banned.
The frequency of such events was monitored by various surveys led UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to speak out against the dangers of intolerance and the perils to religious freedom on the continent.
The OIC Observatory noted several incidents of Islamophobia, including the burning of the Holy Qur’an by a small American church group and the controversy relating to the construction of an Islamic center near Ground Zero in New York.
The report also notes the US Tea Party Movement’s advocacy of hatred of Muslims, the State of Oklahoma’s ban on Shariah and congressional hearings on the radicalization of the American Muslim community organized by US Rep. Peter King.
The Observatory noted Western media promotes Islamophobia through use of pejorative terms, such as terrorist, extremist, fanatic, radical and fundamentalist associated with Islam and Muslims in general.
The report also outlines positive developments, such as the resolution by the Council of Europe denouncing the French niqab ban and Switzerland’s ban on minarets among other efforts to protect religious freedom both in Europe and the United States.
The report ends with set of recommendations outlining a strategy to combat Islamophobia and growing intolerance and prejudice against Muslims through concerted international action.
