Original: English SIXTH OIC OBSERVATORY REPORT ON ISLAMOPHOBIA October 2012 – September 2013 PRESENTED TO THE 40 TH COUNCIL OF FOREIGN MINISTERS Conakry, Republic of Guinea 9–11 December 2013 i OIC-CS-6th OBS-REP-Final-October-2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD by the OIC Secretary General 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 INTRODUCTION 7 1: ISLAMOPHOBIA, INTOLERANCE AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MUSLIMS 10 2: MANIFESTATIONS OF ISLAMOPHOBIA 12 2.1. Islamophobia in USA 12 a) Islamophobia during the US Presidential Campaign 13 b) Islamophobic Ads by Pamela Geller 15 c) Islamophobia in the aftermath of the Boston Bombings 17 2.2. Islamophobia in Europe 19 a) Highlight of Islamophobic trends in Europe 20 b) Islamophobia in the Post- Woolwich murder attack 23 2.3. Islamophobia in the Media 25 3: SOME POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTS 27 4: OIC Initiatives and Activities to Counter Islamophobia 29 4.1. Brainstorming Session at the 39 th CFM 29 4.2. Panel of Eminent Persons for combating discrimination against Muslims 30 4.3. Istanbul Process Follow-up 31 4.4. Istanbul International Conference on Islamophobia 31 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 33 ANNEXES . 36 A: SOME ISLAMOPHOBIC INCIDENTS 36 I. Incidents Related to Mosques 36 II. Desecration of Muslim Graves 53 III. Political and Social Campaigns against Islam and Muslims 54 IV. Intolerance against Islam and its Sacred Symbols 63 ii OIC-CS-6th OBS-REP-Final-October-2013 V. Discrimination against Muslim Individuals in Educational Institutions, Workplaces, Airports, etc 71 VI. Incidents Related to Hijab (Veil) 79 B: CFM RES. NO 41/39-P ON AN OIC APPROACH FOR COMBATING DISCRIMINATION AND INTOLERANCE AGAINST MUSLIMS 84 C: STATEMENT BY H.E. THE OIC SECRETARY GENERAL, PROF. EKMELEDDIN IHSANOGLU, AT THE 3 RD ISTANBUL PROCESS MEETING ON THE FOLLOW-UP OF IMPLEMENTATION OF UN HRC RESOLUTION 16/18 87 1 OIC-CS-6th OBS-REP-Final-October-2013 FOREWORD by the OIC Secretary General It is a matter of personal gratification that the OIC Observatory is presenting its Sixth Annual Report. Since the day I commissioned the Observatory at the OIC General Secretariat in Jeddah in 2007, it has remained focused and diligent in monitoring incidents of slandering and demeaning Muslims and their sacred symbols including attacks on mosques, verbal abuses and physical attacks against adherents of Islam, mainly due to their cultural traits. The preceding five Annual Reports of the Observatory have been objective and credible in covering Islamophobic incidents all of which are available in the public domain. The present Sixth Annual Report, which has maintained this approach, reconfirms the OIC’s legitimate concern regarding the rise of Islamophobia. The progress achieved in raising awareness against Islamophobia and coming out forcefully in condemnation of hatred and racial discrimination against Muslims, has to a large extent been influenced by the vigilance of the OIC Islamophobia Observatory. The first year of my tenure as Secretary General of the OIC in 2005 coincided with the worldwide provocation caused by the publication of the nefarious caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by a Danish cartoonist in the Jyllands-Posten newspaper on September 30, 2005. This irresponsible act of abusing freedom of expression by a single individual that was among the first of many that were to follow in humiliating and negatively stereotyping Muslims, effectively contributed towards developing a culture of intolerance of Islam and Muslims in the West. The perpetrators of Islamophobia, who seek to propagate irrational fear and intolerance of Islam, have time and again aroused unwarranted tension, suspicion and unrest in societies by slandering the Islamic faith through gross distortions and misrepresentations and by encroaching on and denigrating the religious sentiments of Muslims. The aftermath of this mischief, as the world has witnessed, has been tragic and alarming causing loss of numerous innocent lives, damage to property and creating an uneasy state of mistrust between Muslims and non-Muslims in the Western societies. The infamous production of the anti -Muslim Film “Fitna”, which compared the Holy Qur'an to Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”, together with the constitutional amendments imposing a ban on construction of minarets of Mosques in Switzerland, encouraged the bigoted radical extremists to keep the momentum of rising Islamophobia going. The most recent in the string of events such as the film, “Innocence of Muslims”, the publication and reprints of provocative materials by several European newspapers including the most recent one entitled “Tyranny of Silence, the infamous “Burn A Quran Day” move by a Florida Pastor, the Congressional hearings by the Chairman of the US House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security on the “radicalization of American Muslims” in Washington DC on March 11, 2011, together with the anti-Muslim rhetoric by some right-wing conservative politicians and new emerging Islamophobes, have contributed enormously to snowball Islamophobia and manipulate the mindset of ordinary Western people to develop a “phobia” of Islam and Muslims. Today, the perpetuation of Islamophobia, both in terms of the phenomenon’s momentum and outreach, is disquieting. It is particularly alarming that what had initially started as mere exploitation and abuse of freedom of expression by some extremist elements, gradually found resonance in political spheres, ultimately leading to the institutionalization of Islamophobia, such as banning of minarets in Switzerland and other laws, in some European countries, that prohibit wearing Muslim 2 OIC-CS-6th OBS-REP-Final-October-2013 attires in public spaces. It is crucial to address the issue on these three distinctive levels, which are the exploitation, politicization and institutionalization of Islamophobia at various levels. In the present globalized world, peaceful and harmonious coexistence among diverse religions and cultures is not an option but the only means to enduring human cohabitation. The objective of the protagonists of Islamophobia is none other than to create division between the West and the Muslim World. In doing so, they are pushing the world towards the dangerous precipices of conflagration and destabilization. Islamophobia has emerged as a new form of racism characterized by xenophobia, negative profiling and stereotyping of Muslims bearing strong similarities to apartheid. It has always been my firm belief that like apartheid, the challenge for the international community is to dismantle Islamophobia completely and prevent its spread before it gets out of hand and jeopardizes global peace and security. One of the most daunting and challenging tasks reposed on me by our leaders at the 3 rd Extraordinary Islamic Summit in Makkah in 2005 was to combat and counter the absurd and abhorrent campaign of Islamophobia. I took this responsibility to heart and used every option available to bring the international community to a common position so that its perpetrators find no abettors in society to perpetuate their agenda of hate and intolerance. Over these past nine years, I have never failed to raise the concern of Islamophobia in all my interactions with the leaders of Western countries, as well as with academics and civil society representatives. I have underscored, time and again, the extreme gravity of Islamophobia as a major impediment to the objectives of the UN Charter, including the overarching goal that people should practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another. I have been consistent in my insistence that addressing this malaise can be successful through a collective stance and effort of the international community. I believe that the OIC’s outcry against Islamophobia as an affront to human rights and human dignity has had a positive impact on stakeholders in the West. The leaders of Western Governments and regional organizations such as the EU, the Council of Europe, renowned scholars and media personalities and the Vatican have publicly condemned Islamophobia. The historic consensual adoption of the OIC sponsored UN Human Rights Council Resolution 16/18 entitled “Combating Intolerance, Negative Stereotyping and Stigmatization of, and Discrimination, Incitement to violence, and Violence against persons based on Religion or Belief” on March 21, 2011 as well in the subsequent sessions of the Council and the UN General Assembly, has effectively broken the myth of the global community’s inability to take a unified and determined stand to combat intolerance and hatred based on religion and belief. It is my earnest hope that the 40 th Council of Foreign Ministers will take due note of the contents and recommendations of the Sixth Annual Report and that the Member States will fulfill their pledge to strengthen the Observatory. I would also like to reiterate my appeal to the Member States to strongly convey our grave concerns on growing Islamophobia to our western counterparts within the ambit of their bilateral consultations and to impress upon them that the sanctity of freedom of expression and freedom of religion cannot be allowed to be endangered by those few radical extremists who are determined to create unrest and divisions in our present day world of diversity by giving them a free hand in fomenting Islamophobia. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu 3 OIC-CS-6th OBS-REP-Final-October-2013 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Sixth Annual report of the OIC Islamophobia Observatory covers the period from October 2012 to September 2013. The report contains five main chapters in addition to some annexes. The first chapter on “ Islamophobia, Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims” describes the general trend of intolerance and discrimination against Muslims. It reveals that the rise of Islamophobia continues unabated in some Western countries thereby exacerbating tensions at all levels and constituting additional obstacles to the diversity and multicultural fabrics of the societies. A number of independent reports by credible institutions in the West vindicated the Observatory’s position that anti-Muslim rhetoric has become increasingly widespread, which, in turn, has caused an increase in the actual number of hate crimes committed against Muslims.