Original: English TENTH OIC OBSERVATORY REPORT ON ISLAMOPHOBIA October 2016 – May 2017 PRESENTED TO THE 44th Council of foreign ministers Abidjan, Republic of Côte d'Ivoire 10-11 July 2017 i TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD by the OIC Secretary General EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION 1. TRENDS BRINGING SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS ON ISLAMOPHOBIA, INTOLERANCE AND 6 DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MUSLIMS 1.1. The Victory of Donald Trump and the Rise of Anti-Islam Sentiment, Racism and 6 intolerance against Minorities in the United States 1.2. Immigrant issue and the growing resistance in Europe 8 1.3. The Rise of Populism and Far-Rights in Europe 10 2. MANIFESTATIONS OF ISLAMOPHOBIA 13 2.1. Islamophobia in the USA and Canada 13 2.1.1. Polls and Reports on Islamophobia in the United States and Canada 13 2.1.2. Islamophobic Discourses and Campaigns 19 2.1.3. Surveillance against Islam and Muslims 21 2.1.4. The Rise of Far Rights 23 2.2. Islamophobia in Europe 28 2.2.1. Polls and Reports on Islamophobia in Europe 28 2.2.2. Islamophobic Discourses and Campaigns in Europe 32 2.2.3. The Continued Rise of Far Rights 37 2.3. Islamophobia in the Rest of the World 47 2.3.1. Myanmar 47 2.3.2. Australia 48 2.3.3. The Occupied Territory of Palestine 49 2.3.4. China 50 ii 2.4. Other Islamophobic Trends 51 2.4.1. Islamophobic Gestures and Policies against Veil, Hijab, and Burqa 55 2.4.2. Discrimination against Muslims in Employment 57 3. SOME POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTS 58 3.1. Public Policy 58 3.2. Court Decisions and Trials against Islamophobes 60 3.3. Positive Views on Islam 67 3.4. Counter-balances on Far-Rights 70 3.5. Supports on Mosques 79 3.6. Positive Development on Hijab 81 3.7. Positive Development on Inter-Faiths 83 4. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 90 ANNEXES: ISLAMOPHOBIC INCIDENTS 96 I. Incidents Related to Mosques 96 II. Political and Social Campaigns against Islam and Muslims 103 III. Intolerance against Islam and its Sacred Symbols 104 IV. Discrimination against Muslim Individuals and Communities 104 V. Incidents Related to Hijab 107 iii FOREWORD BY THE OIC SECRETARY GENERAL It is a pleasure for me to submit the 10th Annual Report of Islamophobia prepared by the Islamophobia Observatory, through which the OIC keeps monitoring anti- Muslim discourses, policies, and incidents, together with its various manifestations that have seriously disrupted the broad segment of Muslims’ life across the world. Through this Islamophobia report submitted to the Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC Member States, the OIC also wishes to raise global awareness on the obvious danger of Islamophobia as well as on discriminatory policies and practices against Muslims. The 10th Report of the Islamophobia Observatory being released today vindicates our position that the growing trend of Islamophobia has not subsided in any tangible way. Muslims have been terrorized and discriminated. Islamic sacred symbols have been insulted. People with Islamic attires were targeted with hatred. Women with hijabs were abused on streets and public spaces. Certain governments outlawed Islamic attires or applied restrictive access for Muslims to have prayer facilities. Right-wing Politicians and media spread evil images of Islam. Acts of radical and extreme groups in the name of Islam have provided xenophobes with excuses to further their agenda. Their statements and acts have not only been irresponsible, but also conducive to the radical narratives of violent groups and terrorists, jeopardizing the positive image of Islam and boosting Islamophobia across the globe. Islamophobia commands specific measures to be taken at legal, cultural, religious, academic, political, and humanitarian areas, and I am pleased to state here that, through efforts, strategy, and programs, the OIC has been trying to tackle this issue constantly. As mandated by the Member States the OIC has been active on combating this phenomenon at political, diplomatic, operational fronts in order to raise awareness among the international community of the threats that the Islamophobia poses to global peace and security. The OIC seizes every opportunity to open doors for dialogue with other cultures and civilizations. Through sustained positive dialogue aimed at creating mutual understanding, the OIC has been addressing the issue since long. In my capacity as Secretary General I have also been raising this issue of utmost importance during my interaction with the political, economic, religious and academic elite around the globe. I personally believe that Member States, together with the international community, need to take more serious actions to address the contemporary challenge of Islamophobia, including by enforcing laws which clearly stand for prohibition of any advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence. Within this context, I wish to recall to all Member States that the OIC sponsored UN-HRC Resolution 16/18 has provided for 8 (eight) Points of Action that could be implemented to foster an environment of religious tolerance, peace and respect. It has garnered wide support from stakeholders among the international communities, and now is becoming the most relevant framework for addressing the whole package of issues relevant to Islamophobia. By implementing these ‘Points of Action’ in term maximum, I believe that the Muslim World would demonstrate to the rest of the world, its collective 1 respect for religious beliefs, symbols, personalities and scriptures which, eventually, build on global trust to tackle the issue of Islamophobia and other similar issues such as Christianophobia, anti-Semitism, Xenophobia, etc. In this connection, the US position as reflected during the recently concluded US-Muslim World Summit held in Riyadh, KSA encourages us to work with the new US administration to continue exerting our efforts towards the implementation of the provisions of the Resolution 16/18. Finally, I wish to reiterate that under the terms of its Charter and in implementation of its Summit and Ministerial resolutions, the OIC has been striving to support righteousness, justice, tolerance, moderation and peace, and combating terrorism and extremism, while confronting Islamophobia. Through the submission of this report, I also wish to encourage the distinguished Member States to provide further efforts in supporting the Islamophobia Observatory and other relevant institutions, since it is obvious that without support and guidance from Member States and without allocation of proper funds, whatever efforts the OIC is currently deploying will eventually have little impact. Therefore, needless to say that constant support from the Member States is essential to help the organisation to fulfill its endeavor towards banishing hatred and racism while spreading love, justice, peace and tolerance among all humankind. 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The 10th Annual Report of the OIC Islamophobia Observatory covers the period from October 2016 to May 2017. The Report contains 4 (four) main chapters and an Annex. Chapter 1 on ‘Islamophobia, Intolerance, and Discriminations against Muslims’ describes the increasing trend of Islamophobia under the reviewed period, indicated by the growing fear against Islam and Muslims in certain parts of the world which led to negative perceptions among non-Muslims. Within such circumstances, Islam was seen as an evil religion whose disciples had a tendency to spread harm to the followers of other religions. Islam was also portrayed as an extreme and violent religion prone to bloodshed, a stigma that trigger intolerant attitudes amongst non-Muslims, particularly in the West. These negative stereotyping eventually ended up into the dread or hatred of Islam that includes multiple forms of discrimination against Muslims around the world, reflected through the exclusion of Muslims from economic, social, and public life. At the reviewed time period, this negative trend was assessed to have been boosted mostly by 3 (three) factors, namely: The victory of Donald Trump, Immigrant issue in Europe, and the rise of Populism and Far-Rights in Europe. On this Chapter, the OIC Permanent Observer Missions in New York, Brussels, and Geneva have helped the Observatory to elaborates these four factors focusing on their contribution towards the growing Islamophobia in the US and in Europe. Chapter 2 reveals ‘Manifestations of Islamophobia’ around the world, being classified into 3 (three) different categories based on geographical consideration: a) Islamophobia in the United States and Canada; b) Islamophobia in Europe, and; c) Islamophobia in the rest of the world. In addition to these three categories, d) ‘Other Islamophobic trends’ forms a section under the same chapter since it shows a general trend of fear against Islam and its attires which is not necessary regional or geographical in term of character. For this latest category of Chapter 2, the Observatory focuses on Islamophobic gestures and policies against Veil, Hijab, and Burqa; and also on discriminations against Muslims in Employment. Chapter 2 provides a review on how Islamophobia grew strong in the United States and quite concerning in Canada, and how it continued to take root through intensive media campaigns and public discourses showing ‘fear’ towards Islam; and also through the significant number of incidents occurring sporadically against Muslims, mosques, Islamic centers, as well as Islamic attires. This Chapter also reveals the fact that more and more Europeans were critical to Muslim population, a condition that feeds to Islamophobia in the continent and tends to lead European societies towards intolerant attitudes against Muslim minorities. It also presents evidence that the number of Islamophobes in the US and Europe keeps increasing during the reviewed period, and that the anti-Islam sentiments has been nibbling the countries across the European continent. Chapter 2 also exposes the concerning trend of Islamophobia in 4 (four) locus of different regions: a) Myanmar; b) Australia; c) The occupied territory of Palestine, and d) China. These locations were chosen based on the Observatory’s assessment on the level severity, or due to the potential growing of Islamophobia in the areas.