Authorities drops work in the direction of official Islamophobia definition promised to fight anti-Muslim hatred in 2019

The federal government has dropped work on an official definition of Islamophobia that was promised greater than three years in the past, amid mounting concern over inaction on the problem.

Muslims are essentially the most steadily focused group for non secular hate crimes in England and Wales, whereas a string of scandals have uncovered anti-Muslim hatred throughout the Conservative Social gathering.

Ministers shall be questioned on the problem in parliament on Tuesday, which marks the beginning of Islamophobia Consciousness Month.

Labour MP Afzal Khan is to lift a degree of order asking why successive prime ministers haven’t responded to any of his letters regarding the matter for 2 years.

“Their lack of motion since 2018, coupled with the damning allegations made by Conservative MP Nusrat Ghani, all present that they merely don’t take the problem significantly,” he instructed The Impartial.

“Yr after yr, British Muslims are victims of the very best proportion of religiously motivated hate crime. This development reveals no signal of abating below the Conservative authorities.

“But this revolving door of chaos has meant that consecutive prime ministers have didn’t deal with Islamophobia and ship on their guarantees.”

In Could 2019, the late James Brokenshire – then the communities secretary – stated the federal government would search to ascertain a working definition of Islamophobia, including: “To get a firmer grip on the character of this bigotry and division, we agree there must be a proper definition of Islamophobia to assist strengthen our efforts.”

An adviser was appointed however work stopped after Boris Johnson grew to become prime minister, and present communities secretary Michael Gove opposes the institution of a definition.

Showing at a debate on extremism final month, when he was not in authorities after being sacked by Mr Johnson for disloyalty, Mr Gove stated he needed to focus on “political Islam”, which he known as a “virus”.

He denied being an Islamophobe and stated there was “resistance” in Whitehall due to a “want to not trigger offence”.

Mr Gove agreed with one other panellist’s description of an Islamophobia definition formulated by the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on British Muslims in 2018 as “drivel”.

Describing Islamophobia as a “kind of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness”, it was accepted by Labour and different opposition events however rejected by the Conservative authorities, triggering the method introduced in 2019.

Mr Gove instructed the occasion hosted by the Counter Extremism Group on 6 September that it “can be very tough to get a exact definition”, including: “I feel there are risks if a college or one other organisation which ought to be the house of free debate makes use of a definition like that to police what folks can say to be able to penalise them for it.”

Yasmin Qureshi, the shadow minister for ladies and equalities, warned that the “scourge of Islamophobia is on the rise”, with hate crimes focusing on Muslims up year-on-year.

“The Conservatives are the one political get together within the UK to reject the APPG on British Muslims’ definition of Islamophobia,” she instructed The Impartial. “Now Michael Gove has damaged his promise to develop another.

“With the revolving door of prime ministers scrabbling spherical to repair the mess they’ve created with the financial system, it’s clear that tackling Islamophobia is an afterthought.”

The federal government employed an skilled adviser to attract up an Islamophobia definition on the day earlier than Mr Johnson grew to become prime minister in July 2019, however he instructed The Impartial in January that the method “didn’t actually begin”.

Imam Qari Asim stated that a number of letters to ministers had not been answered, together with one requesting a gathering with Mr Gove. Mr Asim stated he had been given no workplace, no monetary assets, no workers and no phrases of reference to attract up the definition, and that there had been a “lack of significant engagement” from the federal government.

He was fired with out discover by Mr Gove in June this yr after being accused of supporting “a marketing campaign to restrict free expression” over a controversial movie depicting the lifetime of the prophet Mohammad’s daughter, which Mr Asim denied.

In a letter responding to his dismissal, the imam stated the federal government had “strengthened perceptions that it’s not severe about addressing rising anti-Muslim hatred on this nation”.

No new advisers have been appointed, and there’s no ongoing work in the direction of a definition of Islamophobia.

A spokesperson for the Muslim Council of Britain stated: “British Muslim communities have witnessed over three years of failed authorities coverage in the direction of defining Islamophobia.

“Residence Workplace statistics constantly present that over 40 per cent of religiously motivated hate crime targets Muslims, essentially the most of any religion group within the UK.

“Britain deserves a communities secretary who genuinely engages with grassroots communities to deal with all types of hatred.”

A spokesperson for the Division for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities stated: “We stay dedicated to stamping out anti-Muslim hatred and all types of non secular prejudice and we’ll define our subsequent steps sooner or later.”