The UN special rapporteur on racism, Professor Tendayi Achiume, has criticised the Prevent duty for fuelling distrust among ethnic minority communities and for impacting racial equality in the UK. Her comments came as she observed that Brexit has contributed to an environment of increased “explicit racial, ethnic and religious intolerance” in the UK.
Several Muslim and African states have proposed to denounce bans against minaret construction as ‘Islamophobic’ as part of a UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution on religious defamation. According to Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesperson Raphaël Saborit, “in principle Switzerland disagrees with the concept of a resolution devoted to the defamation of religion,” as religious freedom…
The Council of State, Belgium’s top administrative court, ruled that schools may ban girls from wearing the Muslim headscarf or hijab. The court argued that a ban on the garment is not discriminatory, but rather, reinforced principals of equality and solidarity. While the ruling does not argue for a mandatory ban, it gives Belgian schools…
European Union countries Tuesday stepped up their opposition to Muslim attempts to shield Islam from criticism and attack Israel through a U.N. conference on racism. EU members were unusually outspoken in appearances before the U.N. Human Rights Council, saying they were worried about preparations for a global racism conference to be held next month because…
The top United Nations rights body passes a resolution proposed by Islamic countries saying it is deeply concerned with the defamation of religions and urging governments to prohibit it. The European Union claimed the text was one-sided, however, because it focused primarily on Islam. Over the opposition of Europe and Canada, the U.N. Human Rights…
