Expert adviser hired in 2019 to define Islamophobia was given no financial resources, staff or support
\nLONDON
\nThree years since promising to establish a working definition of Islamophobia, the UK government will be questioned on the issue in parliament on Tuesday amid a growing backlash for its inaction.
\nHome Office statistics show Muslims are the most targeted faith group in England and Wales, accounting for more than 40 percent of religiously motivated hate crime. Meanwhile, a slew of scandals has revealed anti-Muslim sentiment within the Conservative Party.
\nIn 2018, a group of MPs and peers drew up a working definition to be adopted, stating the absence of one was allowing Islamophobia to \u201cincrease in society to devastating effect,\u201d The Independent reported.
\nDescribing Islamophobia as a \u201ctype of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness,\u201d the definition was accepted by Labor and other opposition parties but rejected by the Conservative government.
\nIn May 2019, the late James Brokenshire \u2014 then the communities secretary \u2014 said the government would establish a working definition of Islamophobia, adding: \u201cTo get a firmer grip on the nature of this bigotry and division we agree there needs to be a formal definition of Islamophobia to help strengthen our efforts.\u201d
\nAn expert adviser was hired but his work was halted after Boris Johnson became prime minister, The Independent reported.
\nImam Qari Asim said that several letters to ministers have gone unanswered, including one requesting a meeting with current communities secretary, Michael Gove.
\nAsim claimed he was given no office, no financial resources, no staff, and no terms of reference to create the definition, and that the government demonstrated a \u201clack of meaningful engagement.\u201d
\nAccording to The Independent, Gove fired him without notice in June after accusing him of supporting \u201ca campaign to limit free expression\u201d in connection with a controversial film depicting the life of the Prophet Mohamed\u2019s daughter, which Asim denied.
\nIn a letter responding to his dismissal, the imam said the government had \u201creinforced perceptions that it is not serious about addressing growing anti-Muslim hatred in this country.\u201d
\nNo new advisers have been appointed and there is no ongoing work on defining Islamophobia.
\nAccording to The Independent, Gove recently spoke out against the creation of a definition during a debate on extremism in September.
\n\u201cI think there are dangers if a university or another organization, which should be the home of free debate, uses a definition like that to police what people can say in order to penalize them for it,\u201d Gove said.
\nMarking the start of Islamophobia Awareness Month, Labour MP Afzal Khan will raise a point of order on Tuesday, asking why successive prime ministers have not responded to any of his letters about bigotry in the past two years.
\n\u201cTheir lack of action since 2018, coupled with the damning allegations made by Conservative MP Nusrat Ghani, all show that they simply do not take the issue seriously,\u201d he told The Independent.
\n\u201cYear after year, British Muslims are victims of the highest proportion of religiously motivated hate crime. This trend shows no sign of abating under the Conservative government.
\n\u201cYet, this revolving door of chaos has meant that consecutive prime ministers have failed to tackle Islamophobia and deliver on their promises.\u201d
\nYasmin Qureshi, the shadow minister for women and equalities, warned that the \u201cscourge of Islamophobia is on the rise,\u201d with hate crimes targeting Muslims up year-on-year.
\n\u201cThe Conservatives are the only political party in the UK to reject the APPG on British Muslim\u2019s definition of Islamophobia,\u201d she told The Independent. \u201cNow Michael Gove has broken his promise to develop an alternative.
\n\u201cWith the revolving door of prime ministers scrabbling round to fix the mess they\u2019ve created with the economy, it\u2019s clear that tackling Islamophobia is an afterthought.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Expert adviser hired in 2019 to define Islamophobia was given no financial resources, staff or support LONDON Three years since promising to establish a working definition of Islamophobia, the UK government will be questioned on the issue in parliament on Tuesday amid a growing backlash for its inaction. Home Office statistics show Muslims are the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-292765","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n