Muslims Between Discrimination and Protection at the Legislative, Executive and Judicial Levels in Western Countries

Abstract

Since 9/11 Islam and Muslims have gained an increasing public visibility in the Western world, partially based on growing fear of terrorism at the internation- al level. This visibility was also strengthened by the media coverage on Mus- lims in most of the Western countries representing Muslims as enemies and a public problem (Amiraux, 2005; Amman and Göle, 2004). In parallel with the increasing public visibility of Muslims and Islam in the Western countries, practices that disadvantage and discriminate against Muslims – including those who view themselves in a cultural and/or religious context as Muslims and those who are perceived as Muslims by others in society because of their cultural or ethnic background – have become a distressing problem through- out the Western world (Meer and Moodod, 2009). The fra (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights) Report “Muslims in the European Union: Dis- crimination and Islamophobia” published in 2006 illustrates how the discrimi- natory practices against Muslims affect them in employment, education and housing. The participants of a high-level meeting about tackling discrimina- tion against Muslims in the EU, organised by the European Commission in De- cember 2018 also pointed out the increasing discrimination against Muslims and the lack of adequate recognition of the seriousness of discrimination and of racism against Muslims (European Commission, 2018). The recent flow of refugees from Muslim countries to Europe has also strengthened negative at- titudes against Muslims and fuelled the problem of discrimination. In line with prevailing attitudes towards migrant populations, Muslims have been tar- geted in policy areas such as internal security, education and social policy. Many Muslims living in Western countries now face multiple forms of discrim- ination, including verbal harassment, hate speech, violent attacks and reli- gious profiling (OSCE 2017). Perhaps more worryingly, with the rise of far-right movements and the electoral gains of populist politicians in many western countries, a discriminatory attitude towards Muslims is becoming part of the global discourse.