Background
Equinet published a report in early 2018 on ‘Faith in Equality: Religion and Belief in Europe’, bringing powerful evidence of the particularly grave discrimination experienced by Muslims in Europe. We have also established regular engagement with the European Commission’s Coordinator on combating anti-Muslim hatred and relevant civil society partners to identify effective remedies to this discrimination, taking an intersectional approach to allow addressing, for instance, the particular experiences of Muslim women.
In 2020 this included a high-level conference co-organised with the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the EU and the Commission’s Coordinator, while in January 2021, we co-organised a workshop with the Commission’s Coordinator and civil society partners to enhance cooperation between equality bodies and NGOs.
The need for a follow-up to this workshop was agreed with partners, with the workshop summary also identifying a list of actions for improved cooperation. The EU’s Anti-Racism Action Plan adopted in 2020 and the Council conclusions on combating racism and antisemitism adopted in 2022 provide an important backdrop to this work.
Objectives
The workshop featured plenary sessions, small group discussions, as well as a study visit to the offices of the Berlin-based CLAIM Alliance Against Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate.
It was aimed at equality body staff working on discrimination and intolerance against Muslims, alongside civil society organisations working on this topic, who together could:
- Review developments in the political and legal landscape around discrimination and intolerance against Muslims;
- Discuss challenges and share good practices in the field identified by equality bodies, with a particular focus on communication and awareness-raising;
- Review progress in equality bodies and civil society organisations cooperating to tackle discrimination and intolerance against Muslims.