Ministers urged to enshrine UN's day to combat Islamophobia in law

28 January 2023 , 18:58

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The day was chosen to mark the Christchurch mosque shootings (Image: Philip Coburn)

Ministers have been urged to enshrine the UN's day to combat Islamophobia into UK law.

The day - March 15 - was chosen to commemorate the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings in which 51 people were killed and 40 others injured.

Campaign group the Aziz Foundation say acknowledging the day in legislation would make more resources available to teach religious tolerance in schools.

“Islamophobia is a type of racism,” founder Asif Aziz said. “That should be an obvious thing to understand but to many it isn’t.”

Labour MP Naz Shah said: “I am fully supportive of this hugely important campaign, and I look forward to working with both the Foundation and parliamentary colleagues from across the House to achieve this goal.

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“Greater understanding and tolerance are the cornerstones of a truly multicultural society.”

Labour MP Naz Shah (PA)

Between 2021 and 2022, religious hate crimes in the UK increased by 37% to 8,730 offences.

More than two in five (42%) of these were targeted against Muslims.

The UK was one of 140 nations to sign the UN resolution to observe the day.

Mr Aziz added: “The UN resolution in 2022 was the first welcome step, but to root out religious intolerance in all its forms we need to educate our children that Islamophobia cannot be allowed to grow unchallenged.

“Having the government acknowledging the UN day will allow us to begin peeling back the layers of misunderstanding and mistrust that have built up over the years, so we can teach our children not only to be respectful of each other, but to celebrate our differences.”

Mikey Smith