The United Nations committee responsible for combating racism has criticized the United Kingdom over continuing hate crimes, hate speech and xenophobic incidents, following riots fueled by hate and misinformation that gripped the country this summer.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) expressed deep concern on Friday, August 23, over the presence of racist speech on various platforms, particularly when perpetuated by politicians and public figures.

The committee was “particularly concerned about recurring racist acts, violence, and hate speech against ethnic and ethno-religious minorities, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers by extremist far-right and white supremacist individuals and groups.”

According to CERD’s report, the UK must act to curb the sharp increase in the use of racist hate speech by British politicians and high-profile public figures. Ministers must “adopt comprehensive measures to discourage and combat racist hate speech and xenophobic discourse by political and public figures” and ensure that such cases are “effectively investigated and sanctioned.”

The committee members declined to name which politicians or public figures had made comments triggering the committee’s concern, but added there were “so many credible reports” of racist comments by high-profile individuals that there was “no doubt that the issue is a serious one in the UK”.

The unrest, which gripped the UK for over a week in July and August, was triggered by misinformation surrounding a tragic stabbing incident in Southport, England, where three young girls were killed.

The suspect, a 17-year-old boy named Axel Rudakubana, was initially reported as a Muslim immigrant, despite being born in Cardiff to Christian Rwandan parents. This false narrative quickly spread on social media, inciting violence across the country.

Exploiting the tragedy, far-right groups launched protests that spiraled into violent clashes with police. Hotels housing asylum seekers were set on fire, and mosques and businesses owned by ethnic and religious minorities were attacked. In total, around 600 people were arrested in connection with the riots.

Notorious anti-immigration figures like Tommy Robinson and Nigel Farage were accused of stoking the flames. Farage, a prominent MP and leader of Reform UK, warned ominously of further unrest, while his previous comments on Muslims not sharing British values further fueled tensions.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the violence, labeling it as “far-right thuggery.”

Presenting the report on Friday based on a four-year review into Britain’s record on tackling race discrimination, the committee highlighted “very troubling” manifestations of racism within the UK, flagging particular concern about racial profiling in stop and search practices, and the “excessive and deadly” use of force by law enforcement.

Committee members were “particularly concerned about the high number of strip-searches carried out on children, especially children of African descent, by law enforcement officials, and at the increase of police presence in schools with higher proportions of ethnic minority children”.

The government should “take steps to address the over-policing of schools with higher proportions of ethnic minority pupils and adopt and strengthen legislation and other measures to explicitly prohibit strip-searches on children”, the report advised.

A UK government spokesperson said on Friday: “There is no excuse for the hatred, violence and intimidation we saw online and on our streets. It was not legitimate protest, it was violent thuggery, and why we have taken the toughest action to ensure those involved in the disorder, directly or indirectly by stirring up hatred, face the full force of the law.”

Source: UN News

Hosted by the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), a coalition of leading national and local Muslim organizations, the advocacy days draw hundreds of Muslims.

This two-day event was designed to connect national, regional and state Muslim organizations and community members with their elected representatives in Congress. USCMO’S advocacy days focused on promoting a legislative agenda in support of equality and social justice issues that will be of benefit to all Americans, regardless of faith or background.

Some of these issues include:

• A round-up endorsement of all legislation pushing back against the Trump Administration’s “Muslim Travel Ban” and “Digital Muslim ban.” Advocates will also urge support for measures that secure the rights of all travelers.

• Supporting DREAMers, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, and opposing legislation that would further restrict immigration to the U.S.

• Promoting common sense gun-safety reform that does not impact the rights or safety of minority communities, including American Muslims.

• Ensuring all communities have a right and means to access nutritious, sufficient, affordable and culturally appropriate food in this year’s Farm Bill.

Last year’s event was attended by more than 450 delegates from 30 states who met with nearly 230 congressional offices. Muslim delegates participating in last year’s advocacy days event met with a third of the House of Representatives and almost half of the Senate.

Source: Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

Parliament adopted a bill sponsored by the Slovak National Party (SNS), junior member in Fico’s coalition, that requires a religion to have at least 50,000 members, up from 20,000, to qualify for state subsidies and to run its own schools. The change will make it much harder to register Islam, which has just 2,000 adherents in Slovakia according to the last census and no recognized mosques. The Islamic Foundation in Slovakia estimates the number at around 5,000.

The SNS said the new law was meant to prevent speculative registrations of churches, such as the satirical Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, which has amassed followers worldwide. “Islamization starts with a kebab and it’s already under way in Bratislava, let’s realize what we can face in five to 10 years … We must do everything we can so that no mosque is built in the future,” SNS chairman Andrej Danko said earlier. There was no immediate comment from the Islamic Foundation.

The law was approved by a two-thirds majority in parliament comprising both ruling and opposition parties. Lawmakers turned down a proposal by the opposition far-right People’s Party-Our Slovakia to raise the religion membership bar to 250,000. The small central European country’s population is 5.4 million; 62 percent of it is declared Roman Catholic. Danko had called for steps to prevent the registration of Islam and ban the wearing of burqas in public and the construction of mosques and minarets.

EU difficulties in absorbing over 1.36 million new migrants since the start of 2015, and a series of Islamist attacks, have stoked anti-Muslim feeling across the EU and boosted the appeal of far-right, anti-immigrant parties, prompting a rightward shift of governing centrists ahead of key elections next year.

Source: Reuters