IHRC has written an open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron calling on him to condemn attacks against mosques. We call upon the Prime Minister to “clearly and quickly condemn anti-Muslim attacks, but to also offer protection to vulnerable and beleaguered communities.”
According to a report published last week half of all mosques in the UK have been attacked since 9/11. These shocking statistics indicate the level of hatred that Muslims face in Britain. This is why IHRC are calling upon the government to take immediate action by condemning and offering communities’ protection.
Our own research shows that 13% of Muslims surveyed experienced a hate motivated physical attack. The motivation to attack Muslims comes from the drip feed demonisation of Muslims via political, public and media discourse that problematises all things Muslim and posits them as a threat to wider society.
We need the Prime Minister to spearhead a cultural change away from the deamonisation of Islam and Muslims, something that if it goes unchallenged, will lead to even more attacks.
IHRC has also warned against framing condemnation with the backdrop of discussions on ‘radicalisation’ and extremism or values and integration. Protection from violence, and social, media and political demonisation of Muslims or for that matter any community or individual cannot be made conditional upon a change of their beliefs or non-violent practices. We hold this to be true whether it applies to Muslims in their diversity and in community, or any member of any faith, culture or political group.
IHRC chairman, Massoud Shadjareh said “We need a strong condemnation from the Prime Minister against the attacks on Mosques. Two separate bombs targeting two separate mosques, it is critical that he speaks now, before we hear of a third bomb attack.
Notes to Editors
- For media enquiries please email media@ihrc.org or call 020 8904 4222 or 07958 522196
- IHRC’s open letter to David Cameron can be found on here
- Our executive summary on our hate crime report can be found on here
