International Day to Combat Islamophobia

High-level event on "Addressing Islamophobia and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief -- the Nexus to Human Rights" in commemoration of the International Day to Combat Islamophobia. Following the United Nations General Assembly resolution 76/254, which declared March 15th as the " International Day to Combat Islamophobia ," and in line with the United Nations General Assembly resolution 78/264 on " Measures to Combat Islamophobia , " the high-level event aims to provide a balanced and inclusive platform for dialogue among Member States, the United Nations system, and non-State stakeholders, grounded in existing international human rights norms and standards. Watch addressing Islamophobia and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief -- the Nexus to Human Rights! Meetings & Events

This event will bring together United Nations Member States, relevant organizations of the United Nations, international and regional organizations, as well as civil society, private sector and faith-based organizations, to observe the International Day to Combat Islamophobia  in an appropriate manner, as mandated by the aforementioned resolution. Related Sites and Documents:  Background Information . High Level Event to Commemorate the International Day to Combat Islamophobia Live Meetings & Events

  The United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution 76/254, designating March 15th as International Day to combat Islamophobia  on March 15, 2022,. This was followed by the adoption of resolution 78/264 of 15 March 2024 on the measures to combat Islamophobia . In light of this designation, and following successful commemorations of the Day at the United Nations during the previous years, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations/United Nations Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, and the Permanent Observer Mission of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to the United Nations in New York, will co-convene a high level event to commemorate the International Day to Combat Islamophobia on March 16, 2026 , from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m . This event will bring together United Nations Member States, relevant organizations of the United Nations, international and regional organizations, as well as civil society, private sector and faith-based organizations, to observe th...

  Make Muslim Friends Keep desmystifying Islam Build coalition with other impacted communities Do more than Interfaith

  Knowing something about Islam is an ever stinger predictor of lower Islamophobia that is knowing a Muslim personality . It is therefore not enough to humanize Muslims as people or make Muslim friends. It is still important to also educate the public on the faith that unites muslims.

Among the strongest predictors of lower islamophobia are favoravke regard for blac Americans, Jews, with favorably toward feminists also a moderate predictor of less anti-muslim bigotry . This suggests that Islamophobia is just one branch on a bigger tree of bigotry. Combat Islamophobia in coalition with other impacted communities. Work to end racism and religious bigotry more generally.  

While participating in interfaith dialogue is commendable for its own good, our data suggests that islamophobia is more politically driven through ideology and partisanship than religiously driven. Our data shows religiosity is not a driver of Islamophobia. This is why it iis important to reach out to diverse groups and opportunities, across racial class, cultural divides, to people of all faiths and no faith, rather than just those typically involved in interfaith engagement , who tend to be white and middle class.

Simply knowing a Muslim cuts one's likelihood of negative perceptions in half. Create opportunities for face-to-face human interaction between people of different religious and cultural backgrounds while cooperating for the greater good.

  If your work requires dealing with Muslims, stories in Muslim majority countries, mosques or other issues related to Islam, here are a few words that you might hear.  Adhan - The Muslim call to prayer. The “dh” is pronounced like the “th” in “thus”.  Ahl al-kitab - Arabic for “People of the Book”. The term is used in the Quran to describe Jews and Christians, who also follow revealed texts.  Alhamdulilah – Arabic for “All praise is due to God”. A phrase that Muslims are encouraged to use in all of life’s situations. Pronounced al-Hamdu li-’llah. Allah - The most commonly used linguistic term for “God” in Arabic. Allah is the same monotheistic God worshipped by Christians and Jews.  Allahu Akbar - Arabic phrase meaning “God is Great”. This phrase is used in many situations. Muslims recite it in their daily prayers and at any time that they want to acknowledge God’s magnificence. They might use it when they are happy, when they wish to express approval, or eve...

  In the 1940s classic Language in Thought and Action author SI Hayakawa’s main takeaway is that true reporting relies on the avoidance of “ loaded words ”. Todd Green says even a word such as “terrorism” is not something with a broad agreement on an objective definition. Violence labelled as terrorism in the media has often applied to violence carried out by people with a Muslim (or otherwise “foreign”) background. Violence by white extremists, on the other hand, has typically not been labelled as “terrorism”. Likewise, violence with a disproportionate impact on civilians by state actors - the United States, Israel, etc - rarely gets described as “terrorism” by journalists. Journalists should use caution when choosing to apply - or not apply - the word “terrorism” to violence targeting civilians . Here are a few words from Al Jazeera English’s style guide to help maintain a neutral description of conflicts and fighters.  • TERRORISM/TERRORISTS - One person’s terrorist is ano...

  • Avoid fear mongering. “Them and Us” is a way to divide societies.  • Never assume violent perpetrators with a Muslim background must be driven primarily or solely by religion, whereas perpetrators who are white (and presumably not Muslim) are struggling with psychological issues, or they presumably have political motives independent of religion. In reality, violence targeting civilians and innocent people often has complex, intertwining motives. This includes the 9/11 attacks, which in some ways were products of Cold War politics and US policies in the Soviet-Afghan War. Journalists should avoid a reductionist perspective in their coverage of stories in which violent actors have a Muslim background.  • Don’t say “Muslims do this or that” when you’ve talked to a few Muslims. You can’t generalise with a community this big. Don’t identify a criminal as Muslim or obliquely by referring to the Muslim country he or she comes from.  • Avoid asking Muslims to speak out a...

  • Look at how Islam is practiced around the globe. Yasir Qadhi sees the solution in media professionals not being “one dimensional”. His advice is, “ Do not link an ideology directly to a religious understanding or text. ”  • If journalists use Muslim sources for stories that are not about Islam or Muslims, it will help the audience to see the community around them as normal individuals.  • Learn more about Islamophobia and use the term Islamophobia .  • Abdul Makik Mujahid, the imam, says: “Connect Islamophobia with anti-Semitism and other forms of racism. Note that Muslims are a target of white supremacists’ hatred.  • While reporting an incident, humanise the victim.  • Identify a Muslim when in a positive role like saving lives through the invention of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine, for example.  • Share stories of how Muslims are contributing positively to their communities and countries in and outside of the Muslim world in virtually all fields, from...

  Since the escalation of hostilities in Israel and Palestine in October 2023, Islamophobia has been on the rise in the United States. Between October and December 2023, 3,578 complaints of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian incidents have been reported to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a 178 percent increase from the previous year1 . This data is directly linked to the Israeli government’s attacks on the Palestinian people. In the months following Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip, a number of political leaders, corporations, institutions of higher education, media executives, and social media networks have promoted or otherwise relied on Islamophobic tropes to justify the Israeli government’s apparent intent to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Islamophobia has historically been weaponised in Israel-Palestine discourse to perpetuate racist tropes targeting Muslims, Arabs and Palestinians that serve to discredit legitimate critiques of Israeli ...

  Islamophobia is one of the main causes for the justification of policies that feed into the breaking and division of society. Minorities in general have suffered from such policies but in the last few decades, Muslims, in particular, have been the target of legislation and media frenzy. In the West,  Islamophobia  has led to discrimination and denial of rights. Imam Mujahid says these include “the infamous Muslim ban by the US and the French ban on Muslim clothing. The Islamophobic rhetoric has translated into public policy in Europe. At least 12 European countries have some form of a hijab ban. There are 11 European countries that have effectively banned Halal meat slaughter. Discrimination againstMuslim minorities has led to genocide of Muslim minorities. The International Court of Justice has provisionally ruled that Rohingya faced genocide, and the genocidal policies of France in Central African Republic and China in Eastern Turkistan are widely reported. The Wa...

  Hate has consequences not just for Muslims but for wider society. The FBI has told the US congress that in addition to terrorism, “domestic violent extremists collectively pose a steady threat of violence and economic harm to the United States”. One of its reports says there are constant underlying drivers for domestic violent extremism which includes “ Islamophobia ”. From the genocide of Bosnians at Srebrenica less than three decades ago, and the Gujurat massacres two decades ago, to the ongoing murder and displacement of Palestinians, Islamophobia is at the nucleus of the mass murder of Muslims internationally. Omar Suleiman adds: “ And it’s not limited to non-Muslim violence on Muslims. Islamophobia, disguised as a crackdown on extremism, also fuels the egregious human rights abuses of many authoritarians in the Muslim-majority world. ” Violence against Muslims can also arise from the hands and actions of individual citizens who harbour hatred towards them, a hatred often ...

  The other-ism of Islam has been pervasive both in broader attitudes towards Muslims in Western nations and in official policies.  Islamophobia is a part of daily life for Muslims, according to Diane Winston. She cites racial profiling, negative assumptions about the hijab (the veil), a paucity of Muslim elected officials, assumptions that terrorist acts are perpetrated by Muslims etc; all these are manifestations of an intrinsic bias against Muslims in western societies on a daily basis . Where sociopolitical differences are stark, Islamophobia has served to unite the most diverse of ideologies . US-based Muslim Scholar Omar Suleiman is of the view that it is this hatred that unites the European Zionist and the Indian Hindutva, the Netanyahus and the Modis. It’s what inspires the genocide in Gujrat and the massacres in Gaza. It is Islamophobia that normalises the Muslim victim, converting casualties into statistics. And unfortunately, its prevalence has only increased. To...

  “Hollywood had turned to casting Arabs in the roles of villains after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War” . Richard Schickel wrote this when Time Magazine was a glossy publication printed, distributed and sold on newsstands. Now take a step back and think of Muslim characters in most (if not all) blockbusters, TV series, Netflix dramas or even comedy shows. Muslims rarely appear on screen and when they do, they are often negatively stereotyped . Attitudes towards Muslims may be formed by a variety of factors. However, mass media is a component within the control of storytellers and content creators . Research led by Stacy L Smith, the founder and director of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California, highlights that it is important to understand how often, and in what context Muslim characters appear in entertainment which we ingest on a daily basis. It has a dir...

  Muslims have historically been racialised in Western contexts. This has been particularly prominent in modern history. Of course, Muslims are not a race. But they are racialised. They are treated as a race, viewed as a monolithic entity, imagined as a collective threat which must be dealt with as a whole. This explains the larger policies and practices that discriminate against Muslims broadly, without evidence of wrongdoing. If one Muslim does something bad (eg, Osama bin Laden), then ALL Muslims must be somehow connected to this person. That only occurs because Muslims are treated collectively, not as individuals. The racism in question can certainly also depend on skin colour - for example, some people who get targeted with hate crimes are singled out because they “look” Muslim even though they may have an Arab background, or a South Asian background, but belong to a different religious community. But what we are also talking about here is what social scientists call “ cultu...