Challenges and Strategies

The term “Islamophobia” was first used in 1996 in a report by Runnymede Trust (U.K.). The report states, “Anti-Muslim prejudice has grown so considerably and rapidly in recent years that a new item in the vocabulary is needed.”

The rise in Islamophobia has since continued unabated. It is manifested in hate speech, both online and offline, as well as discrimination in employment, education, immigration, citizenship, health and social services, housing, trade, and commerce, all of which are widely documented. In India, Islamophobia is practiced at an industrial scale: police harassment, arbitrary arrests, denial of the fair judicial process, threats, and blackmails have become all too common. Complicit state apparatus is used to vandalize Islamic symbols and religious sites deliberately, justify collective punishment and demolition of Muslim homes and businesses, killing by cow vigilantes, bans on hijab, attacks on mosques, and call for the expulsion and genocide of Muslims.

Islamophobia has become an electoral tool, leading to the institutionalization of Islamophobia through new laws and policies, such as discriminatory travel bans and visa discrimination, denial of asylum, laws to disenfranchise Muslims, and establishment of detention camps for Muslims.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, in its recent report, concluded that “Islamophobia has reached ‘epidemic proportions’” and urged nations around the world to take all necessary measures to combat it.

The US congresswoman Ilhan Omar has aptly described the impact of Islamophobia: “In India, Prime Minister Modi’s government has moved to strip citizenship from millions of Muslims and has occupied Kashmir. In Sri Lanka, anti-Muslim laws and violence have terrorized the community. Politicians have stoked fear of Muslim refugees and immigrants in Hungary, Belarus, and Poland. In New Zealand and Canada, white supremacist violence has targeted Muslims, including at their places of worship.”

Nations and organizations worldwide have noted these alarming trends and are now beginning to act.

Representative Omar implored on the floor of the US Congress” “As a country that was founded on religious liberty, our leadership on international religious freedom depends on recognizing that Islamophobia is global in scope, and we must lead the global effort to address it.”

The US House of Representatives passed (December 14, 2021) the Combating International Islamophobia Act. It requires the Department of State, “monitoring and combating acts of Islamophobia and Islamophobic incitement that occur in foreign countries.”

Alarmed at the spread of Islamophobia, the 47th session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers, in November 2020, unanimously adopted a resolution designating March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia. March 15 was selected to remember the day a terrorist attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, and killed 51 innocent Muslim worshipers. A core group was formed, which included Egypt, Iran, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, to lead this effort in the UN.

The United Nations General Assembly (March 15, 2022) adopted a resolution sponsored by the 55 members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), setting March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia.

The UN resolution declares: “[We invite] all Member States, relevant organizations of the United Nations system, other international and regional organizations, and civil society, private sector, and faith-based organizations to organize and support various high-visibility events aimed at effectively increasing awareness at all levels about curbing Islamophobia and to observe the International Day in an appropriate manner.”

Islamophobia is no longer a term seeking legitimacy; it is a reality. The acknowledgment of Islamophobia as a global problem of anti-Muslim bigotry and hate by the US Congress and the United Nations marks the highest political recognition Muslims have achieved in years.

The UN declaration is profound both in its depth and scope of possibilities. The UN declaration obliges international and regional organizations, civil society, the private sector, and faith-based organizations to show their solidarity in combating Islamophobia.

The landmark recognition granted by the UN, the OIC, and the US Congress must be put to practical and effective use in combating Islamophobia.

The United States, the European Union, Canada, and the U.K. have imposed various sanctions against China for human rights violations against the Uyghur Muslim in Xinjian’s region. These sanctions target both Chinese officials as well as Chinese business. The US sanctions go a step further and create a presumption that goods coming from Xinjiang played a part. Businesses will have to prove that human rights violations did not play a part in the products imported into the United States.

While crafting the International Day to Combat Islamophobia, the framers enshrined within the declaration a mechanism to combat Islamophobia, requiring the participants to “organize and support high-visibility events aimed at effectively increasing awareness at all levels about curbing Islamophobia.”

Participation in high-visibility events will set apart the entities with us -(commemorating the International Day to Combat Islamophobia).

It is public knowledge that corporate private sectors profit in the billions of dollars in the Muslim countries, the United States, Canada, the U.K., and the European Union. Some of those billions are remitted to fund Islamophobia. Like the US sanctions on Islamophobia, the corporate private sectors must prove that Islamophobia does not play a part in their corporate social responsibilities. What better way to test the corporate private sectors than by checking their participation in high-visibility events to combat Islamophobia?

The March 15th Forum wishes to pursue the following aims and objectives:

  1. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) led efforts in the UN to set March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia. It is unlikely to produce the desired impact without further steps to incentivize and strengthen this initiative. To institutionalize the International Day to Combat Islamophobia, The March15th Forum is establishing a solidarity registry to record the names of participants organizing and supporting various high-visibility events aimed at effectively increasing awareness at all levels about combating Islamophobia. The registry data will be made available for public dissemination, for anyone to check who is and who is not onboard in the struggle to combat Islamophobia. The registry aims to encourage and grow the ranks of those combating Islamophobia and set an example for others to join the efforts to combat Islamophobia.
  2. Invite international and regional organizations, civil society, the private sector, and faith-based organizations globally to engage with the March15thForum in a convention to commemorate the International Day to Combat Islamophobia and develop joint global strategies to Combat Islamophobia.
  3. Invite and connect with progressive groups and lawmakers for their support in promoting the aims and objectives of Combating Islamophobia – promote unity, tolerance, and cultural harmony.
  4. Invite influencers, bloggers, writes, journalists, and opinion leaders to support the work of The March15th Forum in combating Islamophobia.
  5. Reach out to the core group of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries, including Egypt, Iran, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, and seek their assistance and support for The March 15th Forum in international bodies.
  6. Reach out to philanthropic and charitable organizations in the United States and the OIC member countries with the aim to seek their support, financial and other forms.
  7. Encourage crowd participation resources to screen, research, and establish how corporate private sector is either combating or contributing to Islamophobia.