New effort needed to encourage society to tackle Islamophobia: Report

Produced by the Runnymede Trust with contributions from the University of Birmingham and a number of other British universities, the report finds that Muslims face huge disadvantages in the jobs market, despite more Muslims going to university than ever – including more Muslim women graduates than men.

The report urges the UK government to adopt a new definition of Islamophobia as “anti-Muslim racism”, and recommends that society take more responsibility to call out and report hateful rhetoric and prejudice.

The new report ‘Islamophobia: Still A Challenge For Us All’  features contributions from 23 academics and is officially launched in London today. Speakers include Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, who is also a contributor.

Dr Chris Allen, University of Birmingham and contributor to the report, said: "Having worked with and supported numerous Muslim civic society organisations over the past decade and a half, it is they that have been at the forefront of the drive towards challenging Islamophobia."

"Trying to do so in public and political spaces where the shadow of terror atrocities linger long and where growing anti-Muslim sentiment has been on the increase, has made the task even greater for them. My chapter in the report focuses on these challenges."

The report covers subjects including Islamophobia, Gender; Impact on Health; Prevent; Job Discrimination; Anti-Semitism; Integration; and ‘Anti-Muslim’ movements across the world.

It makes recommendations for an independent inquiry into the Prevent counter-terrorism strategy; and demands that media regulators give corrections and retractions equal prominence to the original article.

In 1997, The Runnymede Trust published the first major report on the issue, called ‘Islamophobia: A Challenge For Us All’, which has been credited with popularising the term.

The report looks back on the last 20 years, which have seen British Muslims become the focus of policies framed around terrorism and the perceived threat to Western civilisation. Instead it suggests that we should tackle the barriers that hold Muslims back from fully participating in society.

Farah Elahi, Research Analyst, The Runnymede Trust, said: "The report sets out a clear definition of what Islamophobia is as a form of racism and sets out ten recommendations for what should be done about it. The focus of tackling Islamophobia must be on the impact on Muslims or those perceived to be Muslim. Current discussions on the topic completely negate the impact on any actual Muslims and therefore deny individuals opportunities to challenge this very real form of racism."