The Taliban in Kabul: What does it mean for Refugee Policies in Europe

August 31, 2021, marked the deadline set by the US and NATO to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan after a two-decade long military presence. In the wake of this decision, the return of the Taliban to power has led to a surge of Afghan refugees fleeing their country and to a renewed debate over asylum…

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Teaching Islam in Spanish schools: an ongoing debate

For the first time, Islamic religious education has been offered as an elective course in public schools in Catalonia, an autonomous community in north-eastern Spain, during the academic year 2020-2021. Despite Catalonia being the region in Spain with more Muslim students (around 90,440), until now, they were not able to attend classes on Islam in…

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UK Labour Party Under Fire for Readmitting Trevor Phillips after His Suspension for Alleged Islamophobia

In March 2020, Trevor Philipps, the former politician and ex-chairman for the European and Human Rights Commission, was suspended by the UK Labour Party pending an investigation into allegations of Islamophobic statements1. At the time of the suspension, the Labour Party stated that allegations of Islamophobia are taken extremely seriously and complaints “are fully investigated…

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Islamophobia in Scotland: New Findings

A report on the first public inquiry into Islamophobia in Scotland has been released by the Cross-Party Group on Tackling Islamophobia, in collaboration with Newcastle University Professor Peter Hopkins. The inquiry was set up in 2018 following an increase in levels of both Islamophobia and racism in Scotland1. At the time, the Cabinet Secretary for…

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US Secretary of State urges The UK and France to let jihadis return

At the summit of the international coalition against ISIS (an 83-nation coalition), held in Rome on June 28th, US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken stated “The United States continues to urge countries – including coalition partners – to repatriate, rehabilitate and, where applicable, prosecute its citizens“1. According to the Guardian, these remarks were primarily…

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