|
CAIR News bulletin
CAIR proposes world Islamophobia report
WASHINGTON, January 13 2005 – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on the State Department to issue a report on Islamophobia across the world, as American Muslims have complained of more anti-Islam TV rants.
The proposal was made when the CAIR and other Muslim and Arab-American groups met with top State Department officials to discuss a number of issues related to American foreign policy.
CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad presented in the meeting -- attended by Assistant Secretary Patricia de Stacy Harrison, Assistant Secretary Richard Boucher and Ambassador William Burns -- a proposal for cooperative efforts to challenge both Islamophobia and anti-Americanism.
The proposal includes such measures as producing a report on the growing phenomenon of Islamophobia, conferences in this country and in the Muslim world to discuss both Islamophobia and Anti-Americanism and domestic and international “goodwill ambassadors” who can speak about both topics.
“By challenging anti-Muslim bigotry, we can help reduce anti-American attitudes in the Islamic world. And by having American Muslims speak out in support of their nation's values, while at the same time maintaining essential credibility on issues of importance to Muslims worldwide, we undercut growing Islamophobic views in our society,” a CAIR press release said.
Awad described the meeting as “open and forward-looking.”
The meeting came after the State Department released its first report on global anti-Semitism January 5, taking a country-by-country survey of anti-Semitism worldwide from July 2003, to December 15, 2004.
The report was mandated by the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act, which was approved by US President George W. Bush in October.
Influential Jewish leaders applauded the move, saying the very fact that Congress enacted legislation requiring the State Department to issue annual reports is “extremely important and highly significant.”
CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, having 30 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada.
|
