report on

Islamophobia In europe
Report written by elsa ray - Project manager
& the IMan team :
samy debah - President of CCIF
raouda ghenania - Co-creator of IMANET
youssef himmat - Communication Officer
najatte kaaoiss - Project Management Officer
Intissar kherigi - Human Rights Officer
Marwan Muhammad - Special Adviser to the OSCE on Combatting
Intolerance Against Muslims (Former member of the IMAN core team)

Graphisme par

spiral Multimdia

http://www.spiral-multimedia.fr
With the support of eu Fundamental rights & citizenship programme

The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission or any other party.

November 2014 IMAN All rights reserved

Table of Contents

Foreword by Marwan Muhammad .................. Page 3

Introduction ................................................................ Page 5
Islamophobia,
Europes New Specter.............................................. Page 7
A European Struggle ............................................. Page 22
From Observations To Action:
Our Recommendations ......................................... Page 27
The IMAN Network .................................................... Page 30

Foreword by
Marwan Muhammad

Special Adviser to the OSCE on

Combatting Intolerance Against Muslims

ntolerance against Muslims is an issue of growing concerns across the OSCE

region. Different political, social and ideological environments across participating States result into different realities.
The same phenomenon, intolerance against Muslims, translates into different
forms: from hate speech to hate crime, including a range of incidents, such as
denial of service or even institutionalized discrimination, in some instances.
The ideological nature of this contemporary form of racism may change over
time and space, but it causes the same harm to those who experience it. The
othering of Muslims as a community, the stigmatization of human beings based
on their religion harms them in various aspects and has different consequences,
depending on the victims situation and on the context into which incidents occur.
How to assess the impact of intolerance against Muslims on communities?
What sort of quantitative measures can account for the experience of
the victims?
How can the data help us better understand the nature of the phenomenon?
These are the most pressing questions raised when one considers the need for
a strong statistical model, with the intention of providing reliable information to
stakeholders, in order to address current forms of racism and intolerance.
We need to start from the victims perspective. This allows us to formulate a
simple and yet essential question:

How does it feel and what is it like to be a Muslim, facing discrimination

and hate crime?
This calls for a much more complex answer than just a series of number. This is
why any comprehensive assessment of intolerance against Muslims (and similarly, of other forms of racism and intolerance) needs to combine both quantitative
and qualitative evidence, in order to provide a richer, more detailed and nuanced
account of the impact it has, both on individuals and communities.
A reliable data gathering model, in the field of hate crime and discrimination, is

able to provide a quantitative account of reported events, in the sense that a

case of discrimination or a criminal offense need to actually occur, for the reporting sequence to be initiated (and then for the data to be compiled).
There are also cases where the data alone cannot tell the whole story.
For instance, we cannot put a number on the feeling of exclusion experienced
by those who are most exposed to intolerance. We cannot quantify all the minor
(and yet meaningful) incidents which, taken together, produce an un-eventful
and yet devastating impact on the target groups, both socially and psychologically, when racist narratives and stereotypes are interiorized.
Still, it remains absolutely essential to compile data, while remaining aware and
cautious of its limitations, for at least three important reasons:
1) It provides a framework for victims to come forward and for their
experiences to be acknowledged. Reporting is the first step to justice,
and it provides the opportunity for NGOs and law enforcement officers
to legally qualify the nature of the incident, investigate the case and
provide the most appropriate response, depending on the case.
2) It provides stakeholders and policy makers with data, in order for
them to better understand the nature and the dynamics of the phenomenon, and then take action to address it. For all its limitations, data
remains the starting point of any high level policy making, in the field of
hate crime and discrimination
3) It breaks the othering process, by showing that we collectively care
about the victims and acknowledge the reality they go through. This is
an important step in addressing the deeper, more social and psychological consequences of racism and intolerance.
This is why we support efforts made, both by participating States and Civil Society Organizations, in order to better monitor hate crime and discrimination,
and ultimately address contemporary forms of racism and intolerance more efficiently.

Introduction

slamophobia, that decade-old form of racism, is not a rare or isolated phenomenon. It is common and widespread. It is a trend that has taken root in all sectors of our modern societies, insidiously upsetting their balance in the process.
Victims of Islamophobia report acts that affect all of their daily lives and concerns.
They do not report accidental acts, such as could be attributed to chance or
a bad encounter. Instead, they speak of often premeditated and always violent
(symbolically or physically) recurring incidents.
So it is a widespread phenomenon that has reached Europe. In 2011, Thorbjrn
Jagland, a Norwegian politician and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, called Islamophobia the new specter of Europe.
It took many years and increasing numbers of incidents for Islamophobia to finally be recognized for what it sadly is and for European authorities to start conservatively taking an interest in the issue. However, the road ahead is still long.
The IMAN1 (Islamophobia Monitoring and Action Network)) project, thanks to
which we are writing this report, has focused on 8 European countries: France,
Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Sweden, Holland, Italy and the United Kingdom.
In these eight countries, grassroots organizations fighting against racism and Islamophobia have studied this social phenomenon up close, in particular through
their work with victims.
Spearheaded by the FEMYSO2 (Forum of Young and Student Muslim Organizations in Europe) and the CCIF3 (Collective Against Islamophobia in France), the
IMAN project has received funding from the European Commission.
This is the first anti-Islamophobia pan-European project, initiated by civil society,
to emerge and be supported by European authorities.
This report contains figures, information and analyses collected through the IMAN
network, which is made up of more than fifteen grassroots organizations.
It also contains information and analysis taken from various reports published in
Europe that focus on Islamophobia.

1 - www.iman-project.org
2 - www.femyso.org
3 - www.islamophobie.net

It is high time, in 2014, for a real effort to combat Islamophobia to emerge in Europe, both in civil society and at the level of national and European institutions.

The IMAN project

Spearheaded by the CCIF and the FEMYSO
8 countries, 3 key activities

Gathering data on acts

of Islamophobia

Support to victims

Intranet tool and data

management

Practical and
legal tools

Training

Victims, professionals,
organizations

Islamophobia, Europes
New Specter
1. the stIgMatIZatIon oF MuslIMs:
the eMergence oF a new scapegoat

ome fifteen organizations, some forty field workers, 8 European countries,

and a common concern: Muslims have become the scapegoats of society, the
prime suspects, and the first de facto victims of discrimination and hate crimes
on the basis of religious affiliation, be it real or perceived.

In the Netherlands, as in many other European countries, September 11,

2001 was a catalyst for Islamophobia.

This was noted by EMCEMO, an organization based in Amsterdam.

The European Organization ENAR (European Network Against Racism) also notes
in its Report on Islamophobia in the UK4 that the terrorist attacks of September 11 and July 7, 2005 in London served to fuel anti-Muslim sentiment in United
Kingdom.
Ever since the emergence of the Islamic State and the media coverage of its
crimes, Islamophobiaparticularly on the Internethas also experienced an extremely alarming increase.
At first glance, the international context plays a predominant role in Islamophobia and in the increase of Islamophobic acts. That is to say that as soon as a reprehensible and murderous act is committed by an individual or group of individuals in the name of Islam, the Muslim population throughout the world is seen as
responsible, and therefore becomes targeted, abused and discriminated against.
In fact, the dominant discourse in European societies is to say that Islamophobia actually originated in the acts of violence committed by Muslim individuals
around the world.
this stance inevitably puts Muslim citizens in a guilty position and implies they
deserve the prejudice against them.

4 - Enar Shadow Report, 2011-2012. http://www.enar-eu.org/IMG/pdf/uk.pdf

In reality, the work of grassroots organizations like MEND5 a London association

specializing in the fight against Islamophobia that does a remarkable job analyzing the phenomenon in terms of politics and the mediahighlights the fact that
acts of violence committed in the name of Islam are used to systematically justify a structural Islamophobia predating such events.
Europe has gone from an anti-immigrant form of racism (namely against non-European immigrants from Asia, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa) from the 60s
to the 90s, to racism on the basis of religious affiliation, i.e. Islamophobia.

Yesterdays filthy Arab has become todays filthy Muslim.

In 2011, Europol sounded the alarm in its report on terrorism in Europe6 by pointing out that:
If unrest in the Arab world (...) leads to a large influx of immigrants in Europe,
extremism and far-right terrorism could experience a renewal of energy by using
the publics apprehension vis--vis immigrants from Muslim countries in Europe.
In the same report, Europol also went on to state that the vast majority of attacks in Europe in 2010 were the work of separatist groups, and the most deadly
attacks were committed by anarchists and far-left groups.7
There were 249 such attacks in 2010. Attacks committed by people aligned with
the Islamic faith numbered 3 that same year.

Terrorist acts committed by Muslims represent 1% of all terrorist

acts in Europe. Yet they take up 100% of media coverage.

The responsibility of the media and of the member States no longer need to be
proven when it comes to their role in creating and spreading these prejudices,
which have dire consequences on the daily lives of Muslims, as we shall see in this
report.

5 - http://iengage.uk.net/
6 - EU terrorism situation and trend report, Europol 2011. https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/publications/te-sat2011_0.pdf
7 - 20 Minutes.fr, 26/07/2011, Les vrais chiffres du terrorisme en Europe, bien loin des perceptions
(The real Figures of Terrorism in Europe, Far Different Than What Is Generally Perceived) http://
www.20minutes.fr/monde/762668-20110726-vrais-chiffres-terrorisme-europe-bien-loin-perceptions

two critical phenomena need to be stressed.

First, legislation (regardless of which political party has the majority in the assembly voting bills into law) tends to introduce emergency laws that restrict the
freedoms of Muslim citizens, on the basis of safety or the principle of neutrality.

The security measures taken around Muslims leads people to perceive

them as a threat to national security that is similar to the post 9/11 era.8

These include the law prohibiting one from concealing ones face in the public
space (Act of October 11, 2010 in France, called law against the full veil), which
had a considerable impact on French public opinion (with the French associating
the veilfull or notwith an issue of safety and of violation of freedom). Similarly, there are those laws called anti-terrorism that primarily target Muslims
(especially men) and that have an impact on the freedom of movement and the
protection of personal information.
Second, there is the image of Muslims in the media, and especially veiled Muslim
women, which is appalling most of the time.
As soon as talk turns to Islam and Muslims, speech becomes considerably more
liberated and unrestricted by any limits, not even the most basic respect for human beings. The worst prejudices are spread without any argument against them
being made, and alarming remarks about Muslimspresenting them as invaders,
dangers to national security and to Europeare rehashed over and over again.

The confiscation of the Muslims voice in their plurality, and the systematic, almost commonplace stigmatization they suffer, represent the
clearest evidence of the construction of this scapegoat.

8 - Professor Talip Kucukcan, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson In Office On Combating Discriminations and intolerance against Muslims, HDIM 2014, September 30, Warsaw
http://www.osce.org/odihr/124657?download=true

2. Islamophobia:
Words and Deeds
2.1 Stigmatizing Discourse, Hate Speech

slamophobia is first expressed through hate speech or discourse stigmatizing Muslims that encourage discrimination and violence in the field. In ten years
of fieldwork with victims, the CCIF (Collectif Contre lIslamophobie en France /
Collective Against Islamophobia in France)9 noted a clear correlation between
hostile speech or hate speech against Muslims voices by the French intelligentsia
and disseminated by the media, and the transition from word to deed in the field.
This observation is shared by all the organizations fighting against Islamophobia
and is all the more alarming given that it denotes a normalization of Islamophobic rhetoric.
Over the past decade, Islamophobia has increased in the Netherlands. This phenomenon manifests itself through violent incidents against mosques or individuals, the negative perception of Muslims and Islam in the media, and increasing
support of extreme-right parties, notes Amsterdam-based organization EMCEMO.
In 2014 local elections, the leader of the far-right party, Geert Wilders, with a
crowd of supporters behind him, sang that he wanted Less! Less! Less! Moroccans in Holland. This followed hate speech against Muslims in Holland, whom he
considers de facto as foreigners.
EMCEMO also notes that the online platform to report hate speech on the Internet
(MDI) received 1,013 reports alleging hate speech against Muslims between 2010
and 2013.
In France, intellectuals and politicians of all stripes appear on public channels to
talk about the Islam problem, the radicalization of Muslims, thus presenting
citizens of the Muslim faith as suspects or individuals that keep the Republic from
thriving.
So much so that the CCIF made an infographic to identify hate and stigmatizing
speech against Muslims from elected officials in France.10

Au nive
u europen, l
9 - Collectif Contre lIslamophobie en France, Rapport annuel 2013. http://www.islamophobie.net/
rapport-annuel
10 - CCIF Le cercle des lus dchus de la Rpublique http://politiques.islamophobie.net

10

At the European level, the Council of Europe launched the No Hate

Speech Movement11 campaign, spearheaded by young Europeans
aiming to bring awareness to hate speech on the Internet in order
to diminish its impact.

On the Internet in general, and particularly on social network sites, screen pages
fill with hateful remarks without any effective barrier in place that can stop them:
hateful Facebook pages such as Islam is shit, which calls for the murder of Muslims, Twitter accounts peppered with images and hate speech against Muslims,
blogs calling for violence against veiled women, etc.

While anti-Semitic remarks are taken, and rightly so, very seriously and
are severely forbidden, it is not the same for Islamophobic remarks,
even though they spread a deadly poison into society.

recommendation
Adopt a legal and police procedure to contain hateful content on the Internet, in
ways similar to the very effective procedures that exist to curb pedophilia on the
Internet.

2.2 Islamophobia In everyday life

eyond words, Islamophobia materializes through actions that are sometimes violent and that often occur on a daily basis.
First, there are the acts of discrimination.
Already, in 2009, the report of the European agency FRAFundamental Rights
Agency warned about the scale of discrimination against Muslims in Europe.
On average, one Muslim respondent out of three reported having experienced
discrimination in the last 12 months. These respondents (...) said they had experienced an average of eight incidents of discrimination over a period of 12
months.12

11 - http://www.nohatespeechmovement.org
12 - Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), Rapport 2009 http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_
uploads/448-EU-MIDIS_MUSLIMS_FR.pdf

11

In Belgium, the Centre for Equal Opportunities and the Fight against Racism13 reported a significant increase in religious discrimination between 2011 and 2013,
recording 257 cases for the year 2013. They also claim, based on their records,
that 80% of the cases relating to discrimination are Islamophobic discrimination
(based on the victims religious beliefs).
In Germany, organizations fighting against discrimination and racism, such as
Inssan14 report increasing discrimination against Muslim citizens.

Discrimination on a daily basis

Access to education

Wearing religious signs is forbidden

(France, Belgium, Italy)
Harassment or exclusion of young girls
on the basis of their attire
Veiled mothers are excluded from
their childrens school life
Meat (and sometimes pork) is imposed
on all children without taking into account the parents educational wishes
Inappropriate comments by teachers
Islamophobic content in certain school
textbooks (depicting Muslims as chauvinist and violent barbarians)

Access to the job market

Hiring discrimination (color of skin +

gender + religious beliefs)
Enormous challenges to face in order
to obtain a position commensurate with
the applicants skills
Wearing religious signs is subject to
unjustified ban
Mental harassment of Muslim employees
Transfer requests denied
Insults and mockery in the workplace

13 - http://www.diversite.be
14 - http://www.inssan.de

12

Access to health care

Treatment denied by certain physicians

Patient forced to remove headscarf
even for a medical visit that does not
require it
Violation of the medical code of ethics
on the part of a physician with respect
to his/her patient (inappropriate comments on the patients religious beliefs)

Access to recreational activities

Illegal company rules forbidding patrons from wearing religious signs

Access denied by a recreational facility on the basis of a patrons physical
appearance (beard, jilbabs and abayas,
veil, djellaba, etc)

Access to public services

Access to a city hall or state structure

denied on the basis that the person is
wearing a headscarf
Non-justified administrative difficulty
in obtaining basic documents (personal
identification documents, official statements, marriage certificates, etc.)

Service denied

Service denied in a restaurant on the

basis of a patrons religious beliefs
Vacation rental denied on the basis of
a patrons religious beliefs
Service denied in a store on the basis
of the patrons clothing (headscarf, jilbab, niqab, etc.)

Freedom of worship hindered

The construction (or availability) of a

mosque is hindered
Opening of private Muslim schools
hindered

Then, physical and verbal abuse against Muslims, and especially against women,
has been on the rise in recent years.
Insults in the street, shoving, and physical abuse are common in Europe. There is
also an increasing number of attacks on mosques and Muslim institutions (cemeteries, schools, etc.).

13

Overview of violent Islamophobia in Europe

France

28 violent physical assaults against

Muslim women in 2013
A pregnant young women lost her
baby after being assaulted (Argenteuil,
2013)
9 violent physical assaults against
Muslim women (and one man) over the
summer of 2014
On average, one mosque is vandalized every week

Belgium

2 violent physical assaults against

women wearing the headscarf for the
months of September and October 2014

Sweden

A violent physical assault against a

Muslim woman and her daughter in the
south of Sweden in 2012
A woman was assaulted at a bus shelter in 2013
237 reports recorded by the Internet
website Hatbrott.se in 2013, which
tracks hate crimes against Muslims (insults and blows)
Hatbrott.se has observed that at
least 40% of Muslim places of worship
have been attacked in Sweden

United Kingdom

Hate crimes of a religious nature have

increased by 45% between 2013 and
2014 according to the MEND organization15
25% of all hate crimes committed
against Muslims are physical attacks
(MEND)
A young woman from Somalia wearing the headscarf was brutally murdered on her way to the university (Essex)
in June of 2014

15 - MEND, anciennement iENGAGE, membre du rseau IMAN. http://iengage.uk.net

14

Germany

Marwa El Sherbini, a veiled 33 yearold woman, was stabbed to death in a

Court of Appeals in 2009. The countrys
first instance of Islamophobic crime.
Violence against young Turks by law
enforcement forces during Ramadan in
2013
An increase in violence against Muslim
communities

Italy

No exact figures on assaults but many

reports of insults and shoving
Women report being spat on and having their veils ripped off in the street
The construction of mosques is forbidden or hindered

Hungary

No exact figures, but the Organization of Muslims in Hungary16 has reported a significant increase in violence
against Muslim property (homes, cars,
mosques, etc.) in Hungary over the past
few years.
Mosques are targeted for violence,
such as on a Ramadan night in 2012,
when all the cars parked in front of the
mosque were set on fire.

The Netherlands

The Netherlands report more of an

emphasis on violence against institutions (mosques, schools, etc.) than
against individuals.
In 2005, 135 mosques and 29 schools
were the target of Islamophobic attacks.
In 2014, EmCeMo counted 5 serious
incidents against mosques, including
one planned by right-wing extremists
against the Mosque of Ljmuiden, which
was thwarted.
Particularly virulent verbal violence on
the Internet

16 - Organisation of Muslims in Hungary, membre du rseau IMAN, Budapest. http://iszlam.com

15

At this stage, we are still desperately short of figures as organizations fighting

against Islamophobia are only just beginning to adopt a pace and an effective
methodology for collecting reports of cases of Islamophobia and support for victims.
But these two tables already provide a painful and disturbing overview of what
the numbers will soon reveal.
At the moment, all of this is actually just the tip of the iceberg.
2.3 women: Islamophobia and sexism

slamophobia is definitely a specific form of racism that targets peoples religious beliefs.
but it is also a form of sexism, in that it mainly targets women.

In a large portion of the incidents, Muslim women are specifically

targeted and excluded from work, education or public services17

In France, the CCIF reports each year that 70 to 80% of Islamophobia victims are
women. And this trend is observed across Europe.
Women are targets because they are women and because their outfits and fashion
choices upset people. Muslim women wearing headscarves thus find themselves
the preferred target for attackers and people with prejudice.

belgium

A vast majority (71%) of the reports collected come from women, regardless
of the activity sector, as noted by the
Centre pour lgalit des chances et la
lutte contre le racisme (Center for Equal
Opportunity and the Fight Against Racism). Wearing the headscarf is a major discrimination factor in Belgium, especially in the fields of education and
professional training.

17 - Professor Talip Kucukcan, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson In Office On Combating Discriminations and intolerance against Muslims, HDIM 2014, September 30, Warsaw
http://www.osce.org/odihr/124657?download=true

16

sweden

All victims of physical assault are women. Women are also widely discriminated against in the workforce, as
noted by the organization Muslims for
Peace and Justice18
Sources: Hatbrott.se, Organization Muslims for Peace
and Justice

the netherlands

EmCeMo reports that women and

young people in particular are bearing
the brunt of Islamophobic discrimination.

united kingdom

Women represent nearly all of the victims of physical assault. They are discriminated against more often than men,
especially when trying to find work or
receive professional training.

Italy

No exact figures, but organizations such

as GMI19 report systematic stigmatization of women wearing the headscarf,
who experience discrimination and exclusion frequently and in ways that are
not justified.

France

Women represent 80% of the overall

victims of Islamophobia and nearly all
the victims of assault. They are victims
of discrimination in all areas of everyday life, but most notably in education and in the workforce.

It is very interesting to observe that women are victims of Islamophobia in 3 different areas:
- Education
- The workforce
- Physical violence

In short, the three areas in which EU governments and institutions

make it a point of honor to uphold gender equality and fight against
violence against women.
18 - Muslims for Peace and Justice (SMFR), Sweden. Member of the IMAN network.
19 - Giovanni Musulmani dItalia (GMI) member of the IMAN network http://www.giovanimusulmani.
it/GMI

17

How to explain, then, that Muslim women suffer precisely these very acts of violence and discrimination?
Other than by the fact that they are deliberately excluded from their campaigns
for equal rightseven though these women represent an extremely wide range
of society in terms of ethnicity, cultural and social background, age, occupation,
skills, etc.
IIt should also be noted that the exclusion of Muslim women is always justified by
the desire to liberate them from the oppression of which they are allegedly
victimsironic, given the fact that this desire for liberation is in fact a clumsy justification for systematic exclusion.
2.4 structural Islamophobia

s we have seen, Islamophobia groups together a set of situations of exclusion, discrimination and violence. Especially against women.
The particularity and seriousness of Islamophobia also lies in the fact that it is
structural, meaning that it comes from institutions and public services and that it
proliferates there in the absence of measures to curb the phenomenon.
In France, CCIF figures show that almost 60% of discrimination cases occur in
institutions (schools, public services, etc.).
In Holland, EMCEMO observes that: in a sense, Islamophobia is firmly tolerated
by the government, which only sees it as a form of freedom of expression and
completely denies the real problem, hate speech against Muslims being at best
ignored and at worst passed on.
The ECRI (European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance)20 regrets that
in Italy Muslims continue to be stigmatized by discourse and policy proposals by
certain parties.
In Germany, it appears that the headscarf is a real barrier to access to skilled
jobs and education. Young women who wish to pursue their studies while adhering to their personal beliefs and clothing choices face many obstacles in school
and throughout their studies, even though the structures in question are public
structures.
These facts confirm what we stated in the introduction.

Islamophobia is not the sum of unfortunate incidents that happen by

chance and the ill will of a few bad seeds. This is truly structural racism
that governments try in vain to ignore.

20 - www.coe.int/ecri/fr(en)

18

3. responses FroM the polItIcal,

MedIa, and JudIcIal realMs

f Islamophobia is spreading, or at least not retreating, this is partly explained

by the fact that, not being officially recognized as a specific form of racism, no
concrete action is being taken to stop it.

One of the biggest concerns of Muslims is increasing violence against

individuals and institutions. Several structures in the regions covered
by the OSCE continually report incidents against Muslims, with a worsening of the nature of the case, when some go from discrimination to
physical violence.21

The authorities provide no reassurance with respect to these concerns, since the
acts of violence are not punished proportionally to the seriousness of the deeds.
a few examples

France

A young pregnant woman was assaulted in Argenteuil (summer of 2013). Her

aggressors beat her to a pulp, ripped
off her veil and insulted her. She lost
her baby a few days later.
Hardly any media coverage. No reaction from politicians. The culprits were
never found.
VERSUS
The case of the young woman on commuter rail D who, in 2004, claimed
to have been assaulted by two young
North Africans because she was Jewish,
adding that they had drawn a swastika
on her stomach.
The incident caused a media and political frenzy and led to many arrests (the
young woman ended up admitting that
she had lied and made up the whole
thing).

21 - Professor Talip Kucukcan, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson In Office On Combating Discriminations and intolerance against Muslims, HDIM 2014, September 30, Warsaw
http://www.osce.org/odihr/124657?download=true

19

France

A Muslim couple and their 3 year-old

child (the woman was pregnant) were
assaulted on a bus. The woman was assaulted, the perpetrator pulled on the
mans beard. They are assailed with
Islamophobic insults, in front of witnesses. The perpetrator appeared before a judge right way, but the prosecutor decided NOT to include the racist
nature of the assault in the charges so
as to not add fuel to the fire.

Sweden

The man who violently assaulted a woman and her daughter in front of a hospital in the south of Sweden ended up
being sentenced (after very lengthy
proceedings) to 75 hours of community
service.

Convictions of Islamophobic acts remain weak and not dissuasive. The victims
statement is often questioned by the police then distorted by the media, creating
the impression in the end that Muslims have a tendency to exaggerate, and that
the Islamophobic nature of attacks and discrimination is ultimately just made up
or an opportunity to add fuel to the fire, or even victimization behavior.
The non-recognition of the victims status (as victims of hate crime) and of the
perpetrators motive of hate constitutes a denial of justice that on the one hand
grants a kind of license to discriminate, physically harm or even kill to Islamophobes, who then feel invested with a power without limit; and on the other
hand contributes to the climate of tension and division that exists in European
societies.
Furthermore, the lack of response from elected officials and representatives of
the State in the face of violent and increasingly frequent Islamophobic acts does
indeed confer a sense of impunity and gives the impression that Muslims are lesser citizens.
This encourages victims to remain silent and to not take any action. This is the
trend observed by all the organizations fighting against discrimination and Islamophobia in Europe, on which we will expound in the second part of this report.
In the early 2000s, it became clear that Islamophobia was not just a local or national problem. Very quickly, the scourge spread throughout Europe, thus expanding to a considerable scale.

20

Islamophobia is now the primary challenge in the fight against racism

and hate crimes in Europe.

This is why cooperation between civil societyespecially grassroots organizationsand European authorities is crucial.

21

A European Struggle

slamophobia is in fact a universal problem. It affects a multitude of individuals and thus takes the form of an umbrella attitude that is made up of other
types of prejudice and forms of exclusion as well.

It is is a clear violation of human rights and should, as such,

be fought with greater force.

Being Muslim is to accumulate handicaps. For example, if you are a black woman,
Muslim and veiled, you will be all the more discriminated against. If youre an Arab
and a Muslim man, same thing.
Age, gender, ethnicity, place of residence, physical appearance: all these discriminatory criteria can be found in Islamophobia.
This is why it must become the central concern of European bodies that aim to
protect fundamental rights.
by supporting civil society organizations undertaking real campaigns against Islamophobia, europe will then become a key player in the fight against racism at
both the national and international levels.

1. grassroots organIZatIons
and Methods oF actIon

he IMAN project was primarily intended to make up for a deficiency at the

European level: we had no common dynamic in the fight against Islamophobia, as
we were scattered geographically, strategically, and methodically.
IMAN has thus successfully made up for that deficiency, first by building a European network of organizations fighting against racism, discrimination and Islamophobia. This network extends across 8 countries22 and includes over fifteen
associations wishing to work together and share their practices to fight more
effectively against Islamophobia, both at the national and European levels.

22 - See the list of member organizations in the appendix.

22

Second, IMAN introduced a common work methodology, designed to accomplish

two main tasks :
- Data gathering
- Support for victims
Indeed, the above were the other two major shortcomings: we didnt have sufficient data on Islamophobia in Europe, let alone homogenized data, meaning data
collected from a universal methodology that would allow for the production of
accurate statistics on Islamophobic acts, victims and perpetrators. And we didnt
have effective structures, either, to help the victims of Islamophobia, who, as a
result, were left to their own devices.
Thus, the IMAN project has developed a shared action methodology so that these
organizations can act in a strategic, concerted and consistent manner against
Islamophobia, at both the national and European levels.23

2. Data gathering
and empowering the victims

ata gathering is an essential activity in the fight against Islamophobia, even

if it is not an end in itself.
Indeed, it is simply impossible to understand and analyze a phenomenon without
any figures or statistics on trends at ones disposal.
The reluctance of member states to collect this information is a first obstacle. But
the with the reluctance of people of the Muslim faith to report acts of discrimination against them is also an obstacle. As we have seen, this reluctance comes
from a climate of non-recognition of the phenomenon and of underestimating
the suffering of victims.
Organizations across Europe are making the same observation: only a fraction of
the victims of Islamophobia are taking steps to report the act and stand up for
their rights.
All too often, they are unaware of their rights and have no confidence in the police and the justice system.
No measures (awareness or information campaign, for example) have been taken to date by the governments of member States to encourage victims of Islamophobia to speak out.

23 - IMAN methodology La Quantification du Prjudice, by Marwan Muhammad http://iman-project.org/fr/publications/quantification-du-prejudice

English version: http://iman-project.org/publications/quantification-prejudice-2

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Out of all the testimonies collected, less than 2 people out of 10 have taken steps
after being the victim of discrimination. The reasons are many. Almost half of the
victims said they werent aware of their rights and didnt know where to turn.
Whats worse, 3 victims of discrimination out of 10 believe that the justice system
will not stand behind them, notes the Centre for Equal Opportunities in Belgium.
The Swedish organization Muslims for Peace and Justice even estimated that
only 2% of Islamophobic acts are reported to the police.
In France, the CCIF has observed the same trend: only 4% of all victims file a complaint after suffering discrimination. And this already very low figure drops to 2%
when it comes to discrimination taking place in institutions.
The lack of structures that could help these victims is definitely a handicap. The
report of the FRA (Fundamental Rights Agency) states that, on average, 80% of
respondents (people of the Muslim faith) are not aware of any organization that
can provide assistance or advice to victims of discrimination.
The IMAN project therefore intends to address this significant lack of data on
Islamophobia in Europe and the isolation of the victims by training the member
organizations in the IMAN network in data collection methodology and in support
to victims.
The flagship tool of the project is without a doubt the online platform Imanet,
an Intranet that can be used and accessed by any member organization in the
network, and through which users can compile acts of Islamophobia, collect all
the information needed to process a case and support the victim, and automatically generate statistics based on the information stored on the platform.

3. Cooperation needed between

civil society and European institutions

n its 2012 report, Amnesty International worried that anti-discrimination laws

are not implemented effectively in the member States, and the European institutions fail to address the problem.24
For European authorities to improve efficiency, they are in dire need of the information reported by civil society organizations. As for civil society organizations,
they need the support of European authorities to move forward and make their
voices heard before the member States.

24 - Amnesty International 2012 Report Choice and Prejudice. Discrimination against Muslims in
Europe http://www.amnesty.eu/content/assets/REPORT.pdf

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On January 29, 2013 in Strasbourg, the COJEP25 organization held a conference

on the theme of the rise of racism through the European media, whose focus
was Islamophobia.
The Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe, Nils Muinieks, gave
the opening remarks at the conference, in which he stressed the need for close
and regular cooperation between NGOs fighting against racism and Islamophobia and the Council of Europe, whose mission is to defend human rights in the
European Union.
Institutions do not work in the field with the victims, but instead focus on the legislative and policy frameworks of the member States. They therefore need the
knowledge and experience of grassroots organizations, which remain the victims main spokepersons.

4. Conservative progress:
towards a brighter future?

he IMAN project in and of itself is an encouraging step forward. It is the

first pan-European network of civil society organizations that are uniting to fight
against Islamophobia with an organized and strategic approach.
The organizations face great difficulties, mainly financial ones. Indeed, collecting
data and supporting victims are activities that require time and both human and
material resources.
The IMAN network is made up of dynamic organizations, but some of them are
new to the fight against Islamophobia and operate primarily via volunteers.
Nevertheless, the scale of the challenge and the efficiency of the IMAN projects
tools have enabled the networks member organizations to improve their capacity and reinforce their actions.
While Islamophobia is not yet being fought at a level befitting its terrible nature,
it is nevertheless being increasingly recognized and studied.
Across Europe, it has become an area of study in universities. Many researchers
in England, France, Sweden and Norway are producing theses and sociological
studies on Islamophobia.
European authorities are beginning to address the problem, namely by organizing or taking part in conferences, workshops and symposia on the issue.

25 - Turkish NGO. http://www.cojep.com

25

Cooperation between European authorities and civil society organizations must

be strengthened even more, namely by allocating funds from Europe to the NGOs,
especially those with a mission to support victims.
Data gathering and support to victims, in the context of the fight against Islamophobia, should be common and concerted activities between NGOs and European institution thus serving as an example to other member States, which
should also have to implement the system in their respective territories.

26

From Observations To Action:

Our Recommendations

his report is part of the IMAN projects activities. The project is finishing up
its first phase in December 2014 and will pursue its efforts over the long term.
The three main activities of the IMAN projectdata gathering, victim support and
trainingare meant to be increased in the future, and thus other countries and
organizations will join the IMAN network.
To conclude this report, following is a list of recommendations that our organizations are making to European institutions as key measures to take in the fight
against Islamophobia.
Establish a stronger partnership between European institutions that
protect human rights (Council of Europe, OSCE-ODIHR) and civil society
organizations specialized in the fight against Islamophobia.
Allocate European funds to enable organizations to collect data on
acts of Islamophobia and to support victims (the two critical deficiencies in Europe when it comes to the fight against Islamophobia).
Set up, at the national level, a system for gathering data broken down
in terms of equality that would aim to better understand the forms of
discrimination to better fight them. This system would include the cultural and religious dimension, in addition to gender and age, which are
already widely accepted.
Organize awareness campaigns, conferences and workshops, in partnership with organizations with a focus on Islamophobia.
Integrate the fight against Islamophobia in the fight against violence
against women and the fight for gender equality. Integrate it as well as
in the existing provisions regarding womens access to the workforce,
and the fight against discrimination against women.
Encourage and support access to information about their rights for
victims and potential victims of discrimination. Encourage and support
the emergence of effective structures providing care and support to
victims of Islamophobia.

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iman-project.org
Contact
Elsa Ray Project Manager
Elsa.ray@iman-project.org

With the support of EU Fundamental Rights & Citizenship Programme

The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission or any other party.

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The IMAN Network

http://iman-project.org/fr/network/organisations-partenaires/

sweden

Musulmans pour la Paix et la Justice

http://muslimerforfred.org

Centre Contre le Racisme

www.centrummotrasism.nu

Italy

CAIM - Coordinamento Associazioni Islamiche

di Milano e Monza e Brianza

GMI Giovani Musulmani dItalia

http://www.giovanimusulmani.it/GMI

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germany

Federation against Injustice and Racism FAIR

info@fair-int.de

england

Federation of Student Islamic Societies

www.fosis.org.uk
1963 - 2013

Mend ex iENGAGE
www.iengage.org.uk

Muslim Council of Britain

http://www.mcb.org.uk

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France

CCIF - Collectif contre lislamophobie en France

www.islamophobie.net

EMF Etudiants musulmans de France

www.emf-asso.com

hungary

Organization of Muslims in Hungary

http://iszlam.com

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belgium

Forum Europens des Organisations Etudiantes Musulmanes

http://www.femyso.org

Kif Kif (organisation flamande)

http://www.kifkif.be

Collectif Contre lIslamophobie

en Belgique
http://www.islamophobia.be

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