BISMUN 2016
Human Rights Council (HRC)
Study Guide
The impact of terrorism on women rights in the Middle East
and the Arabic world
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Welcome Note
2. Introduction
3. Impact and roles of Muslim women in terrorism, conflict & violent extre mis m
4. Muslim Wome n’s oppression: Niqab and Burka as symbol of terroris m
I.
The Public Voice of Muslim Wome n: Islam Vs Freedom of Speech
5. Discussion questions
6.
Conclusion
7. Bibliography
Welcome Note
Dear delegates,
We welcome you at the United Nations Human Rights Council and at Bucharest
International Model of United Nations. Bucharest is a vibrant and beautiful city and we cannot
wait to meet you there and to become friends with you.
At the same time, our goal is for you to leave BISMUN full of new ideas, new thoughts,
new knowledge, and new perspectives. This year's topic for BISMUN is "United Against
Terrorism: Reaching Global Consensus" and it focuses on the timely issue of terrorism through
various aspects. In the United Nations Human Rights Council we will discuss about the effect of
the recent terrorist tendencies on the rights of women in the Middle East and the Arabic World,
and about a new variation of racial profiling, called terrorist profiling.
We are Patricia Kumbakisaka and Alexandros Apostolidis. Patricia lives in Canada, but
she was born in Romania, raised in Greece and her origins are from the Democratic Republic of
Congo. She has a bachelor in Political Science and Sociology and she is currently completing her
master on International Relations at the University of Manitoba. Alexandros is from a Greek
island, Skiathos, and lives in Athens, where he studies International and European Studies at the
University of Piraeus, while he has spent his Erasmus semester at the Law Faculty of the
University of Salamanca in Spain. We are both very experienced MUNers and we look forward
to chairing the United Nations Human Rights Council.
UNHRC is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations framework with 47
member-States. Its responsibility is to promote and protect human rights all over the world. It
was established in 2006 and its Seat is at the UN offices at Geneva, Switzerland. Ban Ki-moon
stated that “all victims of human rights abuses should be able to look to the Human Rights
Council as a forum and a springboard for action.” The Council addresses topics that vary from
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and separate case-studies on countries such as North Korea and
Kyrgyzstan to important thematic domains such as freedom of expression, freedom of belief and
religion, women’s rights, LGBT+ rights, and the rights of racial and ethnic minorities.
We believe that we will all enjoy the debate in our committee and are enthusiastic about
meeting you and to getting to know each other.
Looking forward to BISMUN 2016,
Patricia Kumbakisaka and Alexandros Apostolidis
Introduction
Muslim Women in the Middle East and Arab World can play multiple roles in terrorism and
counterterrorism efforts. For instance, how drivers of violent extremist are affecting or are affected by
women remains a knowledge gap for many policymakers. Muslim women may play the role of supporter
or participant in terrorist groups for a variety of reasons, some of which may have little to do with their
gender even. Although the role of women as terrorist actors remained relatively unexplored, various
studies do suggest that most of the same factors that prompt men to become terrorist drive women in the
same way: grievance about sociopolitical conditions; grief about the death of a loved one; or fanatical
commitment to religious or ideological beliefs, an intension to derive economic benefits or a desire to
affect radical societal change.
The popularity of the women’s rights cause and its obvious intrinsic merit have unfortunately generated
many facile assumptions and much confusion about the conditions of women in the Middle East and the
problems they face; about the relationship between women’s rights and democracy; and about what an
outside intervener like the United States can accomplish. Arab/Muslim women are not sufficiently
protected in the Arab world; that social norms preclude women from fully enjoying even their limited
legal rights; that this holds back the entire society; and that the world should be concerned about the
problem and contribute to its solution. It cautions, however, against the assumption that by promoting
women’s rights globally contributes to the democratization of the Arab world, and it calls for a clearer
separation of programs promoting the rights of women and opportunities for them and those promoting
democracy.
When it comes to Political rights, Arab countries severely curtail the political rights of all their citizens,
men and women. Only three Arab countries do not recognize the right of women to vote and to stand for
elections. Two of the three states are, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), do not hold
elections in the first place, leaving Kuwait as the only country that holds regular elections but excludes
women. Some Middle East states recognized the political rights of women relatively early—Syria in
1949, Lebanon in 1952, Egypt in 1956, and Tunisia in 1957. For instance in Turkey they recognized
women’s right to vote in 1930 and their right to stand for elections in 1934, ahead of many European
countries. Except for the Gulf countries, Arab nations recognized the political rights of women around the
same time as most other developing countries. What is clear, however, is that few women stand for office
even when they are allowed to do so by law and that few are appointed to ministerial positions. The
presence of women in parliaments and ministerial positions ranges from none in most countries to a
maximum of about 12 percent in a few cases. Governing remains an overwhelmingly male prerogative in
Arab countries—but it is worth bearing in mind that this is true in most of the world. In the United States
women occupy only 14 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives and 13 percent in the Senate.
Women approach parity with men in political posts only in some Scandinavian countries.
Impact world of Muslim women in terrorism, conflict and
violent extremism
There are so many Muslim women that are being automatically profiled due to their ethnicity and
religious backgrounds. After various Muslim terrorist attacks, the society is told that the killers just
“misunderstood” their religion. They misunderstood the peaceful nature of Koranic verses such as "Kill
them wherever you find them", "They should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should
be cut off on opposite sides" and "Strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them".
The impact of terrorism on women and the roles of women in international peace and security efforts,
including conflict prevention and peace-building, have been underscored by the adoption of UN security
council resolution 1325 and subsequent thematic resolution on women, peace and security issues. The
roles of Muslim women as they relate to terrorism and counter-terrorism issues have remained less
explored by policy makers and international counter-terrorism actors. Too often their rules are ascribed
simply as preventers without a more nuanced consideration of when, how and why women may play the
roles of ‘supporter’ or ‘perpetrator’ or even as security actors in counter-terrorism efforts. 1
Gender equality and women’s rights, is an issue that not only affects the Middle East but also the whole
world, with women having a disproportionate lack of power and the majority are poor. The gender
inequality in the Middle East is by no means a phenomenon that only occurs in that region, but it has been
a human rights problem that has been highlighted in the last decade. In the Middle East, women lack
proper health and education and are severely underrepresented in the public and political sphere. Forms of
violence against women continue including honour killings and rape, whilst female circumcisions
continue to cause major health complications for women and the patriarchal system maintained in the
region treats women as second class citizens. This patriarchal system views women’s position in society
1
http://www.un.org/pr ess/en/2015/sc12076.doc.htm
in relation to their duties towards the family thus preceding their rights as individuals, and whilst
women’s empowerment movements have been challenging the authorities for some time, many view the
movement as a western concept rather than a reaction to Islamist trends. 2 These case reflected the
difficulty in reconciling Islam with international human rights norms and produces the argument that re examination of Islamic texts is needed to understand its relevance to today’s world in regarding Muslim
women’s rights. Whilst there have been many failures in the attempts to empower women in the Middle
East, such as the banning of women participating in municipal elections in Saudi Arabia, there have been
a few successes including: the passage of a new law in Egypt in 2001 making a no grounds divorce easier
for women, the establishment of thousands of NGO’s across the region engaged in development of
women’s income, girls education, political involvement and legal reforms. This suggests that progress is
being made no matter how slow.
Islamic Women and religious oppression: Niqab and Burka as symbol
of terrorism
There are various countries that have wrestled with the issue of the Muslim veil - in various forms such as
the body-covering burka and the niqab, which covers the face apart from the eyes. The debate takes in
religious freedom, female equality, secular traditions and even fears of terrorism. The veil issue is part of
a wider debate about multiculturalism in Europe, as many politicians argue that there needs to be a greater
effort to assimilate ethnic and religious minorities.
One major component which the western people see and approach towards Middle Eastern women has
been woman's "veil”. It is seen as a tool of suppression within a larger patriarchal structure. The Muslim
headscarf has been co-opted by many women as part of a larger women's rights movement wherein they
2
http://www.globalissues.org/article/166/womens -rights
seek equal educational opportunities, employment, and status as professionals whose contributions to the
welfare of the state extend beyond their homes. 3
Therefore, headscarves Muslim women have touted their freedom to move about easily in their societies
without the harrowing eye of men seeking to sexualize their bodies. They have also boasted feeling selfrespect and dignity when wearing the headscarf in accordance with their personal moral beliefs. Indeed,
the proliferation of the headscarf in countries like Egypt for instance, has been transformed into a fashion
item whose color and texture matched young women's trendy clothing and glamorous makeup. Most of
these women incorporated the headscarf into their daily lives as university students, doctors, engineers,
and professors, making a symbol of liberation rather than control. Notwithstanding such sociological
shifts taking place in some parts of the Middle East, the society continues to deride the “veil” as a tool of
oppression. The September 11th or the Paris attacked, changed everything and rhetoric became moot and
eclipsed by more existential debates about protecting ourselves from the enemies within our borders. An
anxious and angry public called for systematic profiling and heightened scrutiny of Muslims. The most
visible target was the "marked" Muslim woman wearing a headscarf. The hijab was a target of racial
violence in public places and workplace discrimination for Muslim women, which made them fear for the
safety and question whether they should even give up their religious right to wear the hijab in order to
keep their own families safe.
When it comes to restrictions on religious practices regarding Muslim Women, the government has
sought to restrict or prohibit practices perceived as contradicting national or liberal democratic norms and
values, especially those that condone violence or are seen as undermining gender equality. Citizenship
and integration tests, as well as arrival contracts, have all been employed to signal the undesirability of
certain practices. For example, Denmark requires immigrants to sign a statement on arrival committing to
3
Littman, David, Universal Human Rights and Human Rights in Islam. Midstream, February/March 1999
respect individual freedoms and gender equality. Policies that relate to religious headwear for women
have proved particularly divisive. Bans have taken various forms: local or national bans on the burqa and
niqab (both of which cover the entire body and face) in public spaces; restrictions on the hijab (the more
commonly worn headscarf that leaves the face exposed) in specific professions or public institutions; and
restrictions on religious dress in schools.
4
The most far-reaching bans on religious clothing have been introduced in France and Belgium, where
wearing a burqa and other forms of face-covering headwear in public have been prohibited since 2011.
The bans were enacted ostensibly for security reasons (although in the case of France, penalties were
introduced against those who coerce others to dress a certain way based on their gender). Reports of street
violence and discrimination towards women wearing the burqa or niqab also raise questions about the
effectiveness of these policies in promoting integration. Some countries restrict religious dress in certain
public professions, either to ensure neutrality in the public sphere, or for pragmatic reasons like
facilitating human interaction. These include civil servants, teachers (in approximately half of the German
federal states, Oslo municipality, all of French public schools, and ad hoc bans in the United Kingdom),
the police force (Denmark, Norway, Germany, and ad hoc cases in the Netherlands), and judges and
clerks (Denmark, Norway, ad hoc in the United Kingdom and Spain). These policies are politically
sensitive, but they may involve unintended consequences and tricky trade-offs. For example, banning
religious headwear risks driving women out of the workplace or stigmatizing an already vulnerable
minority. These choices are even harder when policies are overwhelmingly popular but affect small
minorities in life-altering ways.
4
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/integrating-europes-muslim-minorities-public-anxieties-policy-responses
Muslim Wome ns oppression: Niqab and Burka as symbol of
terroris m
All Muslim women, just like the rest of the women in the world, should be free to express their
opinions/religious beliefs and choosing whether they want to wear a hijab or not and have the freedom
from prejudice and discrimination. The social status of Muslim women var ies depending on their social
class and educational background, whether they came from rural or urban areas in the country of origin
and other factors. Muslim women are at the centre of heated public debates concerning the role of
religion, tradition and modernity, secularism and emancipation, and are often singled out as victims of
oppression attributed to Islam. An issue that has been publicly debated in recent years in many Member
States concerns the wearing of a headscarf, which is often interpreted by non-Muslims as a symbol of
oppression and subordination.
The issue of the headscarf is complex and multifaceted. Many Muslim women may indeed wear a
headscarf involuntarily, because of social pressure by family or even harassment by their peer group, but
others choose to wear it either on religious grounds, as an assertion of Muslim identity or as a culturally
defined display of modesty. Other issues affecting the lives of a number of Muslim women particularly in
some European countries, e.g. Belgium, France, Germany, Austria and the UK are forced marriages and
honor murders. Such unacceptable practices have been publicly condemned and the 2006 Austrian
Presidency of the European Council took the initiative to develop the ‘Network Against Harmful
Traditions’ proposing legal measures as well as protection of victims and awareness campaigns. While
acknowledging that the social status and life conditions of many Muslim women must be considerably
improved to achieve gender equality, it should also be recognized that to consider all Muslim women as
passive victims is not an accurate reflection of how many Muslim women see their lives. In other words,
to focus solely on negative issues such as forced marriages and honor killings, without denying that they
exist, is only to scratch the surface of Muslim women's diverse experiences across the world. Muslim
women all over the world are a fast growing segment population which reflects the breadth of their
country’s racial, ethnic and multicultural heritage and various countries and regions. 5
As previously mentioned, there are many Muslim Women (not all of them) that wear the hijab and these
women may wear their headscarf when they are in presence of men who are not part of their immediate
family and some women additiona lly cover much of their face with a covering known as niqab. The
reality is that millions of women are suffering and being oppressed under religious laws and Islamic
governments in many different parts of the world. It is important that we still talk about the religious
oppression of women. The past twenty years have been some of the darkest in women’s lives. With the
anti-secularist backlash, the rise of political Islam, and efforts over the past two decades to impose
religion on the people, thousands have been executed - decapitated or stoned to death - and medieval laws
to suppress women have been revived. Islam is the ideology in power. In other countries such as Algeria,
Palestine and even Egypt we are faced with powerful Islamic movements in oppositio n. In all of these,
society has suffered serious setbacks in civil rights in general, and women’s rights in particular.
There are various voices trying to justify Islam: Whether it’s western academics, mainstream western
media and advise us that what we see is not Islam and they divide Islam into good and bad moderate and
fundamentalist. In a highly oppressed Muslim countries society such as Saudi Arabia. The country is very
well known for its high levels of gender inequality. It revolves around three meanings: men experiencing
better opportunities, men occupy a preponderance of the social positions that possess significant political,
economic, legal or cultural power.
Another example could be the fatal terrorist attacked, that occurred in Paris on Nov 13th which left 129
people dead and revealed once again that the biggest threats to Muslim people living in Europe are
5
http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/156-Manifestations_EN.pdf
those so-called Muslims who see no problem with killing innocent people in the name of Islam and
the fake imams who groom them. Although they are currently associated with guest workers escaping
from their hometowns due to financial troubles and refugees escaping from internal conflicts in their
countries, the history of European Muslims is quite old. This history, which first started in 7/11 when
Tariq ibn Ziyad, the Umayyad military general, conquered al-Andalus, Spain, has passed numerous
stringent tests over the years. It resulted in a struggle for existence. And this struggle has not yet
completely ended. European Muslims were hurt by the strong reactions to Salman Rushdie's novel “The
Satanic Verses” in 1989; the 2004 murder of Theo van Gogh, the Dutch director of the movie
“Submission”; the Danish cartoon crisis that erupted in 2005; and the deadly attack on French satirical
magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2015 but they managed to survive. The struggle will also continue after the
recent attacks in Paris. It is certain the attacks will have some political consequences. On the other hand,
hatred is emerging in society against Muslims in European countries. 6 These have been large and small
attacks against Muslim residents in various European countries following the Paris attacks, similar to the
aftermath of other terrorist attacks that took place in the continent previously. These attacks cannot be
underestimated but it would be wrong to claim by analyzing the recent attacks that Muslims in Europe are
under great danger. It is right that Muslims, who for years have been trying to tell people via their lives
and views that Islam cannot be associated with terrorism, feel embarrassed by the attacks. Although they
have conducted various campaigns in which they condemn terrorism and shouted the slogan “A Muslim
cannot be a terrorist,” it seems impossible to convey their messages to Europeans for now. Just like the
previous attacks, the Paris incidents have raised the walls between European and Muslim communities
much more. However, there are still many reasons to be hopeful about the future despite all problems.
6
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_terrorism-radical-islamism-turn-lives-of-european-muslims-intonightmare_405499.html
The biggest threat to the Muslim women community is not the society who are against Islam, but those
so-called Muslims who are alienated from the basic values of Islam with every passing day. Those
terrorists who assault Europe are from those so-called Muslims countries or are raised by “imams” from
those countries. Those fake imams cannot understand that another Muslim community distinct from theirs
can exist in their countries. They don't believe the new community can be better than theirs at all. Such
so-called Muslims are actually the biggest obstacle preventing the integration of Muslim and non-Muslim
communities in Europe. 7
While terrorism raises the walls between certain communities more, it creates an atmosphere in which
dialogue is established between communities. Even if they do this to show their reactions, people are
forced to enter into a dialogue with the other side of society. Such dialogues do not always end
negatively. If extreme rightists groups and radical Muslims are put aside, moderate people from both
communities can get the opportunity to know each other better. That is why a Muslim who made the flag
of France their profile picture on Facebook or a European person who condemns the terrorist attack in
Ankara or Beirut is very valuable.
7
Frank Van Lierde, “Looking for That Other Face: Wo men Muslim Leaders and Violent Ext remism in Indonesia,”
Cordaid, 2013, http://www.cordaid.o rg/med ia/publications/Cordaid_Other_Face_ -LRtotaal_voor_web.pdf.
Discussion Questions
1) What motivates Muslim women to engage in political violence and how far does the answer show
commonality worldwide?
2) What types of factors are determine the changing role of Muslim women’s’ rights in the Middle
East and the Arabic world?
3) How does the portrayal of women terrorists in the media needs improvement?
4) What rights does Islam offer to Women rights in the Arabic and Middle Eastern world?
5) How can we fight an ideological war with weapons for women’s rights in the Arab world? How
can we win this issue if we do not address it in an ideological perspective view?
6) What rights does Islam offer to women rights in the Arabic and Middle Eastern world?
7) In your point of view, how effective are the Muslim women’s suicide in Terrorism?
8) Do you think there are common characteristic to Muslim women terrorist? If yes, how does the
answer affect the society?
9) What do you think is the Islamic stand on terrorist attack, especially against children and women?
10) What is a Muslim woman’s testimony worth in the Middle East and Arabic world?
Terrorist Profiling:
Islamophobia, xenophobia
and other discriminatory practices
CONTENTS
1. Welcome Note
2. Introduction
a. The Phenomenon of Profiling
b. Xenophobia
3. Discriminatory views and practices against migrants and minorities
4. Case studies on xenophobia
a. Islamophobia
5. Stereotypes against Arabs and Muslims
6. Case studies on islamophobia
a. Anti-Semitism
b. International Legal Framework on Discriminatory Views and
Practices
c. Conclusion
8. Useful Questions for the members of UNHRC
9. Bibliography –Sources
1. Welcome Note
Dear delegates,
We welcome you at the United Nations Human Rights Council and at Bucharest
International Model of United Nations. Bucharest is a vibrant and beautiful city
and we cannot wait to meet you there and to become friends with you.
At the same time, our goal is for you to leave BISMUN full of new ideas, new
thoughts, new knowledge, and new perspectives. This year's motto for BISMUN is
"United Against Terrorism: Reaching Global Consensus" and it focuses on the
timely issue of terrorism through various aspects. In the United Nations Human
Rights Council we will discuss about the effect of the recent terrorist tendencies on
the rights of women in the Middle East and the Arabic World, and about a new
variation of racial profiling, called terrorist profiling.
We are Patricia Kumbakisaka and Alexandros Apostolidis. Patricia lives in
Canada, but she was born in Romania, raised in Greece and her origins are from
the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has a bachelor in Political Science and
Sociology and she is currently completing her master on International Relations at
the University of Manitoba. Alexandros is from a Greek island, Skiathos, and lives
in Athens, where he studies International and European Studies at the University of
Piraeus, while he has spent his Erasmus semester at the Law Faculty of the
University of Salamanca in Spain. We are both very experienced MUNers and we
feel honoured and excited to chair the United Nations Human Rights Council.
UNHRC is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations framework with
47 member-States. Its responsibility is to promote and protect human rights all
over the world. It was established in 2006 and its Seat is at the UN offices at
Geneva, Switzerland. Ban Ki-moon stated that “all victims of human rights abuses
should be able to look to the Human Rights Council as a forum and a springboard
for action.” The Council addresses topics that vary from the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict and separate case-studies on countries such as North Korea and
Kyrgyzstan to important thematic domains such as freedom of expression, freedom
of belief and religion, women’s rights, LGBT+ rights, and the rights of racial and
ethnic minorities.
We believe that we will all enjoy the debate in our committee and are enthusiastic
about meeting you and to getting to know each other.
Looking forward to BISMUN 2016,
Patricia Kumbakisaka
Alexandros Apostolidis
2. Introduction
Racial profiling has been an issue troubling politicians and media for decades, while stereotypes
have existed since the formation of the first urbanized societies or well-defined cultures in
antiquity. A society may tend to have an unfavorable view of foreign peoples, because they
cannot understand their different perceptions and traditions or because they’re displeased with
the impact that foreigners could have on the locals, both financially and culturally. The
stereotypes that originate from such generalizations and views end up marginalizing foreign
communities or individuals and discriminating against fellow humans.
Nowadays a new form of racial profiling has appeared: terrorist profiling. This means that
certain groups of people, based exclusively on their religious background, race or ethnic origins,
are being stigmatized as eager to violence, hatred, and radical ideas, which results in the belief
that they’re potential terrorists as a whole. Examples of those groups are Arabs, Muslims and
Black people, and the members of those population entities are often deprived of their
individuality by the public authorities, the mass media and various other factors of the sphere of
the political and social life. Consequently, many of the human rights of those people are being
violated or disrespected concerning the equality of all people, the freedom of all humans, the
dignity of the human beings, the protection of the physical and moral integrity, as well as rights
related to religious and social life and labor market. Apart from xenophobia in general,
islamophobia is the new tendency on the rise, while we will also examine the case of antiSemitism as a phenomenon where racial profiling was entirely linked to harsh factual
discrimination and unprecedented cruelty.
Furthermore, we will make a short presentation of the international declarations and treaties on
human rights which are related to these forms of discrimination as well as legal cases where
profiling has had a judicial verdict on its legitimacy. As a conclusion, one should be open to a
debate between freedom of speech/freedom of information, which would be limited by laws
criminalising hatred speech or preventing partial presentation of the news, and the violation of
other important human rights for the victims of racial profiling in general and terrorist profiling
in concrete.
3. The Phenomenon of Profiling
The term "Profiling" is a complicated term to describe. Oxford dictionary defines Profiling as
"the recording and analysis of a person’s psychological and behavioural characteristics, so as to
assess or predict their capabilities in a certain sphere or to assist in identifying categories of
people". Cambridge Dictionary and Dictionnaire Larousse offe r us very similar definitions,
because the term was mostly used for criminological reasons until recently. In some cases,
however, the research on Profiling focused more and more on racial and religious criteria, thus
highlighting people’s origins or confession over their personal experiences and the stimuli of
their family, a phenomenon called "Racial Profiling". Indeed, the Merriam Webster Dictionary
comes to offer us a definition specifically for Racial Profiling: "the act of suspecting or targeting
a person on the basis of observed characteristics or behaviour". The American Civil Liberties
Union states that "racial profiling refers to the discriminatory practice by law enforcement
officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual’s race, ethnicity,
religion or national origin". So, the debate regarding the legitimacy of Profiling in the public
sphere – for instance by the police or for demographic reasons – was already heated by the 90s;
arguments in favor of it focused on how much it facilitates the work of police officers and of
politicians, and arguments against it underlined that Profiling deprives citizens of their
individuality and promotes erroneous stereotypes. The progress of Social and Political Sciences
and the collection of data by the public authorities, as time went by, gave more and more data for
the procedures of Profiling, which, hence, included more information and factors but,
simultaneously, more generalisations and presumptions on racial and religious grounds.
In order to facilitate the Council's mission, we need to specify our study on Terrorist Profiling,
an even more recent trend, which manifested itself after the 9/11 attack of the Twin Towers in
New York (2001), "the day that changed the world". In September 2001 Al Qaeda, a terrorist
organisation whose ideology was fundamentalist Islamist, makes two planes fall on the
emblematic buildings of the World Trade Center killing over 2000 people, while a third attack
against the Pentagon of the USA is prevented just the last moment. Afterwards, many
international interventions took place against Arabic and Muslim countries, such as the War of
Iraq, the War of Afghanistan, the War of Libya and others – those conflicts took place on the
grounds that those governments may facilitated the work of Al Qaeda and other similar terrorist
organizations, among other reasons. Simultaneously, new terrorist attacks occurred against
important European and American cities, such as London, Madrid, Boston and Copenhagen, but
also within many Muslim countries whose governments did not interpret and apply Islam the
way fundamentalist terrorists do, e.g. Lebanon, Tunisia and Pakistan. Consequently, the Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria, self-proclaimed The Caliphate, established itself in a big area in the
Middle East, accomplishing incredible atrocities against the local population, neighbour
countries and foreign people, until in 13 November they organised a fatal attack in Paris,
bringing the whole world in mourning and shock. At the dawn of all those events and factors,
media presented Arabs and Muslims as cultures eager to violence and hatred, and many
politicians demonised all of them as potential terrorists. There are some solid reasons behind this
unprecedented stereotyping: no other people has ever committed international terrorist acts at
such a scale, while some parts of the Arab and Muslim population, varying between 2% and 15%
per country, are profound sympathisers of these organisations, probably as a result of deep
cultural complexes rooted in the Crusades, the Colonial Period and recent interventions in their
homelands. Also, it is often said that it may be preferable to have some prejudices by the public
authorities and by the mass media, if this contributes to reducing the possibility of new deadly
terrorist attacks. On the other hand, the actions of those people contradict the very Quran and are
absolutely disregarded by the vast majority of Muslims, while the considerable diversity among
various Muslim countries is severely underestimated: many people and governments perceive the
Muslim confession or the Arab World as one cultural entity, while the differences among
Lebanese, Bosnian, Bangladeshi, Tatar, Indonesian, Hui, Moroccan and other Muslim cultures
are huge. Above all, unjustified presumptions are made for a person based exclusively on the
religious beliefs of his or hers. The complicated phenomenon of Terrorist Profiling has become a
big obstacle for the intercultural communication of Muslims with the rest of the world and for
the interaction of Muslim communities in the West – either minorities or immigrants - with the
other people in their country of residence. Therefore, it affects the political and social life of
millions of people and it is a crucial issue of human rights.
What has been additionally noticed regarding Terrorist Profiling is that there is a simultaneous
tendency of not calling White people or Christians terrorists when they commit terrorist acts or
any other form of violence at a similar context. The most characteristic example is the
Norwegian bomber Anders Beihring Breivik, who attacked a summer camp in July 2011 8 . His
extremist Christian views were rarely mentioned and analyses focused on his mental state, while
since 2015 he is a student of Political Sciences at the University of Oslo 9 . Then there is also the
recent case of an extremist Orthodox priest who stabbed six people during an LGBT+ Pride
Parade in Israel, whose religious background was not given much coverage on the news in
comparison to his mental health and personal views 10 . The 2014 attack on the Parliament of is a
8
"Norway attacks: at least 92 killed in Oslo and Utoya island", by Peter Beaumont, The Guardian (July 2015)
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/23/norway-attacks
9
"Anders Beivrik accepted at Nor way’s University of Oslo", BBC (August 2015) http://www.bbc.com/news/worldeurope-33571929
10
"6 Stabbed at Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade by ultra-Orthodox Jewish Assailan t", by Yair Ettinger, Yarden Skop and
Chaim Levinson, Haaretz (July 2015) http://www.haaretz.com/israel -news/1.668796
case too – the person who entered the Parliament shoo ting around was usually called "gunman"
instead of "terrorist"11 . People of the White Race or Christians, when they commit terrorist acts
or similar crimes, are regularly depicted as mentally ill people or people with unstable
personalities and extremist opinions, in such a way that their religion or cultural background
rarely gets stigmatised and their coreligionists or compatriots never face racist discrimination. As
an example, in 2015 a flight of GermanWings fell on Alps and there was evidence that the copilot made the plane fall on purpose; media, specialists and public speeches focused on his
mental illnesses history and unstable personality, unlike what usually happens when Muslims
commit similar acts. This does not apply to all Western countries – there are some examples of
countries where citizens and media are not hesitant to calling White people or Christian people
terrorists, for instance, the members of ETA in Basque Country (Spain) or members of the
Organisation "17 November" in Greece. However, the tendency is growing more and more and
in many countries it has become the dominant spontaneous thought on terrorism.
There is also a third aspect of Terrorist Profiling. It is observed that, when the terrorist attacks of
Al Qaeda, ISIS or similar organisations target their coreligionists, media and politicians in the
Western world are not as interested and, also, that people sometimes do not consider those acts
truly terrorist attacks, but rather civil conflicts among Arabs or among Muslims. This is an
undervaluation of the human life on racial and religious grounds, and it leads to a mentality that
disrespects the principle that all people are born equal and free. An attack at a college in Kenya
with 147 deaths had little coverage in mainstream media 12 , while in November the bombing of
Beirut by jihadists was given much less coverage than the simultaneous Paris attacks, same as
massacres in Iraq and Syria have been going unnoticed in mainstream media in comparison to
the killings of Western journalists and aid-workers. It may be deemed natural for the media and
politicians not to care as much for events that occur in a big distance and do not affect them
directly – this would explain why the death of a Western journalist is given more representation
in the public life of Western countries than the death of countless Muslims. However, the
destruction of important monuments and works of art in the region controlled by ISIS, such as
the ancient city of Palmyra and the Archeological Museum of Mosul, attracts the interest of the
global community to a considerable extent, much more that the death of hundreds of thousands
of Muslims or in general Non-White people.
11
"Canadian Solder, Gunman dead in Parlia men t Atta ck", by Michael Compte, Yahoo News (October 2014)
http://news.yahoo.com/canada-parliament-locked-down-soldier-shot-143624524.html
12
"147 dead, Islamist gunmen killed after attack a t Kenya colleg e", by Josh Levs and Holly Yan ,CNN (April 2015)
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/02/africa/kenya -university-attack/
4. Xenophobia
I.
Discriminatory Vie ws and Practices against migrants and minorities
The term xenophobia has a Greek etymology, from the words ξένος (xenos, foreigner/stranger)
and φόβος (phovos, fear), and it refers to a feeling of repugnance or distaste with foreign cultures
and peoples, but unlike other forms of racism it does not necessarily include feelings of hatred or
complexes of cultural superiority.
When it comes to criminal behaviours, it is often believed that an immigrant has a higher
probability of breaking the law. Sometimes this is based purely on a racist perception of society,
but other times there are some valid arguments about this opinion: an immigrant is tighter on
financial means, does not dispose of an extended network of socialisation, and is not as wellaware of the laws of the country of residence. However, this idea may be a self- fulfilled
prophecy. On the one hand, social obstacles and stereotypes against foreigners may lead to their
marginalisation and, hence, push them towards illicit acts to a bigger extent than locals. On the
other hand, the thought that a foreigner tends to be a criminal more easily leads to stricter and
more frequent controls by the police and the other authorities upon immigrants and minorities, so
that the courts and prisons end up with higher percentages of immigrants due to disproportionate
controls on them.
Of course, xenophobia may concern both communities of migrants and ethnic minorities. Still,
there is no undisputed source or reliable evidence that proves migrant communities or ethnic
minorities unavoidably have a certain tendency to unlawfulness. Therefore, victims of
xenophobia suffer a loss of their individuality and they do not see their dignity – which is a
fundamental human right – guaranteed. Also, they are not judged on equal grounds with the rest
of the population, therefore one more fundamental human right is violated: the equality of all
human beings. As far as democratic countries are concerned, the xenophobic perceptions of a
large part of the population discourage politicians from policies that would promote and facilitate
the integration of migrant communities and ethnic minorities in their country of residence –
governments could see their popularity reduce because of such a way of acting and thinking and,
consequently, they may not be reelected as easily. This is a vicious circle eternalising the
discrimination against migrant communities and ethnic minorities.
Foreigners tend to be considered sometimes as more eager to commit terrorist acts against the
local authorities and population, due to sentimental and mental complexes created by the
negative and offensive way that the rest of the society has treated them. Indeed, during the Paris
Attacks in 2015 7 out of 8 jihadists were raised in France and Be lgium and disregarded the
European culture. Nevertheless, there is no evidence that the majority of foreigners feel
repugnant of their country of residence or that they regularly harm their country of residence by
participating in terrorist acts.
It must be noted that xenophobia has been demonstrated and expressed in various forms and
ways in the past, for instance Negrophobia, against Afro-Americans or Afro- Europeans,
Afrophobia, against African cultures in general, and S inophobia, against Chinese people and
culture, in the Americas, Europe and Asia. As those currents of cultural "phobias" had lead to
factual discrimination and violence by the authorities and institutions of various countries, it is
not illogical or exaggerated to be afraid that such discriminatio n could be repeated for the racist
perceptions adopted by people, mass media and politicians now, such as islamophobia.
II.
Case Studies on Xenophobia
Xenophobia is a phenomenon that touches in one way or another almost all societies in modern
times. Hispanic people in the USA and refugees from Western Balkans in Central and Northern
Europe are characteristic groups of people who are victimised by xenophobia.
Firstly, stereotypes against Hispanic people in general and Mexican immigrants in concrete focus
on their relationship with trade of drugs, participation in mafias and gangs, difficulty in learning
English and socialising with locals, excessive consumption of alcohol, women becoming
prostitutes, mocking their traditional clothes, cuisine and music, and judging their religiousness.
Mexicans and other Hispanic people are depicted as individuals with a predisposal towards
violence, unlawfulness and corruption and with mentality and aesthetics incompatible with the
one of the society of the USA, even though the United States have formed their identity exactly
on diversity and openness. These stereotypes impose artificial obstacles for Mexicans and
Hispanics, such as difficulty in finding a good job or entering a university/college, bad grades at
school, lower salaries and limited representation in public authorities. This artificial and
voluntary degradation of their quality of life on the grounds of people’s origins is equal to a
veritable disrespect of human rights, and it is the result of xenophobia and of racial profiling in
the public sphere.
Secondly, a new wave of refugees from the Western Balkans has joined the migratory current
from the Middle East en route to Central and Northern Europe, as a result of turbulences and
conflicts in Kosovo *UN RESOLUTION, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia. In many countries, such as Hungary and Denmark, European immigrants are far
more than Middle-Easterns and, still, those countries adopt an anti- migration policy; so, their
stance against migration is not only against Middle-Easterns and Africans, but also against
fellow Europeans, therefore in general xenophobic and not just islamophobic. The government
does not treat migrants and refugees with dignity and respect, according to Amnesty
International, while various xenophobic incidents have been observed, like local people spitting
on foreigners 13 14 , tripping and kicking migrants passing by them15 16 , or attacking the refugees’
13
"When it comes to refugees, Scandinavia is deepbly divided", by Rick Noak, The Washington Post (September
2015) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/ 09/ 09/ when -it-co mes-to-refugees-scandinaviaisnt-quite-the-promised-land/
camps 17 18 with foreigners from the Western Balkans and the Middle East. Public authorities
such as the Police have failed to protect refugees and migrants, while no legislative framework
has been updated adequately in order to respond to the demands of our times.
5. Islamophobia
I.
Stereotypes against Arabs and Muslims
Islamophobia is a recent form of racial profiling and it has to do with people who feel
endangered by the presence of Muslims in their environment or attribute negative characteristics
to Muslims; it is strictly related to the idea that Islam promotes violence and hatred or that
Muslims are keen on terrorism. Oxford Dictionary defines Islamophobia as "dislike of or
prejudice against Islam or Muslims, especially as a political force". It affects Muslim
communities within Western countries, Islamic countries who have been attacked with the
unproved excuse of promoting terrorism, and – most recently – the refugees who try to flee to
Europe after the Arab Spring and the Syrian Civil War. Muslims receive discriminative treatment
in numerous day-to-day occasions, have to put up with hatred speech and co nspiracy theories
against them, and their physical and moral integrity is at stake. Therefore, many of the human
rights of Muslims are being violated as a consequence of Islamophobia in the public sphere, as
far as dignity, equality and safety of people are concerned. Also, other fundamental rights,
related with religion, work and social life are being disrespected as well.
II.
Case studies on Islamophobia
Islamophobia dominates in mainstream media and public speech; however, it is no longer limited
to unofficial politics. Recently islamophobic parties are being on the rise throughout Europe,
with some countries, like Hungary, Slovakia, Denmark, Poland and Finland having them in their
very government. We can find examples of extremely islamophobic behaviour in governmental
policies in many countries. In August 2015 Slovakia announced that, contrary to the decision
14
"Skræ mmekampagnen virker" by Morten Frich, Sebastian Gjerding and Julie Elmhoj, Information (September
2015)
http://www.in formation.dk/ 544526
15
"Hungary Journalist to sue Syrian refugee she trippled", by Al Jazeera Team, Al Jazeera (October 2015)
http://www.aljazeera.co m/news/2015/ 10/hungary-journalist-sue-syrian-refugee-tripped-151021181139822.ht ml
16
Group Attacks Migrant Bus in Eastern Germany, The Associated Press – ABC News (2015)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/latest-refugees-germanys-word-year-2015-35709698
17
"Attempted murder: 10 injured in arson attack on German refugee shelter", Russia Today (December 2015)
https://www.rt.co m/news/325053-arson-attack-germany-migrants/
18
"Calais Migrant Camp on fire as France reels from Paris terror attacks", by Mikey Smith, The Mirror (November
2015) http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/calais-migrant-camp-fire-france-6830330
taken at the Summit of the European Council, it will only accept refugees if they are Christians,
with the Interior Minister saying "How can Muslims be integrated, if they are not going to like it
here?"19 . Likewise, the following November the Polish Minister of European Affairs, Konrad
Szymanski, stated that Poland will not fulfill its obligations for the EU relocation plan for the
Syrian refugees, because their existence will bring about instability in the country's political and
social life 20 . Surprisingly Eastern European states, the countries with the smallest percentages of
Muslims and the countries that have sent millions of refugees in the rest of the World in their
recent history, are the ones who have the most islamophobic stance during the Migratory Crisis.
In the meantime, the decision of the EU court for those affairs is still pending up to December
2015.
Another event that didn’t go unnoticed is the fact that refugees are sometimes obliged to wear
coloured wristbands in order to be visibly different from other people, in Britain and in
Germany21 . This is a humiliating policy reminding us of the star-bracelet that Jews were forced
to carry during the Nazi rule. Denmark, Switzerland and some German states, such as Bavaria 22 ,
have voted in the period 2014-2016 laws, according to which the authorities have the right to
seize from refugees all valuable things above a certain (small) amount of value as compensation
for the cost their existence means for the country. Those laws have been voted despite the
disagreement of the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the International Amnesty and in
spite of the widespread critics they received by the international community 23 .Also, in December
2015-January 2016 Greece received harsh critics by the European authorities and various
European governments and it is being threatened with expulsion from the Schengen Area of free
movement of people and capitals, because it saves all incoming people without distinction of
race, nationality and religion and it does not apply the measures in order to prevent people from
the Middle East and Africa from entering Europe and identify them, as decided by the EU
Summit. 2425 Furthermore, islamophobic statements and proposals by the Front National in France
– one of the three most important political parties of the country – and by one of the most
19
"Slovakia will only accept Christian refugees", by Alexandra Sims, The Indepen dent (August 2015)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/migrant-crisis-slovakia-will-only-accept-christians10463875.html
20
"Poland says it cannot accept mig rants under EU quotas, follo wing Attacks in Paris ", by Ashley Cowburn , The
Independent (November 2015) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/poland-plans-to-backtrackon-migrant-commitment-following-attacks-in-paris-a6734521.html
21
“Asylum seekers made to wear coloured wristbands in Cardiff ”, Diane Taylor, The Guardian (January 2016)
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/24/asylum-seekers-made-to-wear-coloured-wristbands-cardiff
22
“No w Germany takes refugees’ cash and gold”, Anthony Joseph, Daily Mail (January 2016)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3411311/Now-Germany-takes-refugees-cash-gold-aid.html
23
“Danish MPs approve seizing valuables from refugees ”, Al Jazeera (January 2016)
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/01/danish-mps-vote-seizing-valuables-refugees-160126055035636.html
24
“Greece threatened with Schengen suspension”, Eric Maurice, EU Observer (Dece,ber 2015)
https://euobserver.com/migration/131337
25
“European Commission - Press release: Co mmission discusses draft Scheng en Evaluation Repo rt on Greece”,
Europa.eu (January 2016) http://europa.eu/rapid/press -release_IP-16-174_en.htm
popular candidates for the Republican Party's leadership and for the Presidency of the United
States of America, Donald J. Trump, during his electoral campaign, are other examples of the
danger of islamophobia spreading in politics.
Of course, Islamophobia is also found at many countries' social life, with numerous events being
noticed; those events degrade Muslims and end up marginalising them. In May 2015 a Muslim
academician, Tahera Ahmad, during her flight with an American airline, United Airlines, was
denied an unopened bottle of diet coke - unlike the rest of the passengers - because the flight
attendants believed she could use the unopened bottle as a weapon for a terrorist act, an opinion
with which none of the co-passenger disagreed. Via a Facebook post, Mrs. Ahmad initiated an
online campaign which went viral, using the hashtags #islamophobiaisreal and #unitedforThaera
and ended up to a boycott of the United Airlines and to an acknowledgement by the company.26
A similar event occurred in Athens, Greece in January 2016. Two Israeli Jews demanded two
Israeli Arabs and one Palestinian to leave the plane they were on, due to suspicion that the three
Muslims are potential terrorists. The flight delayed 90-100 minutes over the fights that took
place on the airplane and at the end the three innocent Muslims were forced to abandon
humiliatingly their flight and travel the next day 27 . Even worse, over 60 passengers defended the
demand of the Israeli Jews and no one on the plane disagreed with the islamophobic opinion; in
fact, according to a passenger’s statement, “no one was racist, we expressed our concerns in an
objective way, just like when you see someone suspicious in the street”. The incident lead to a
complicated diplomatic incident between Greece and the Palestinian Authority and even reached
the Hellenic Parliament, since the Greek law (Art. 292 of the penal code) defines that the Israeli
Jews should be sent out of the plane for delaying the flight on purpose instead of the Muslims
being deported for being perceived “suspicious”. 28 Greece is currently reforming its legislative
framework for transportation including non-discrimination as obligatory. Earlier, in September
2015, a Muslim student in Texas, Ahmed Mohammed, suffered an incredible humiliation at his
school when he showed a homemade digital clock he created with a pencil case – his dream is to
become an engineer. The school staff was sure that Ahmed, being a Muslim, had created a bomb
or a hoax bomb and called the police which immediately arrested the confused and sad boy. A
viral campaign #standwithAhmed spread online and finally the boy was released and thanks to
the publicity of his case many scholarships were proposed to him and even the President of the
USA, Barack Obama, tweeted about him "Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White
House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great "
and arranged to meet Ahmed Mohammed 29 . Hardest of all, refugee camps throughout Europe
26
"No Diet Coke fo r you: Islamophobia claim p rompts United Airlin es boycott", by Zach Stafford, The Guardian
(May 2015) http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/30/diet-coke-islamophobia-united-airlines
27
“Aegean Airlines apologizes for removing Arabs fro m flight ”, The Times of Israel (January 2016)
http://www.timesofisrael.com/aegean-airlines-apologizes-for-removing-arabs-from-flight/
28
"Βουλευτές του ΣΥΡΙΖΑ κατέθεσαν ερώτηση γι α τη δυσμενη δι ακριτική μεταχείριση της Aegean σε βάρο ς
επιβατών αραβικής καταγωγής", The Huffington Post of Greece (January 2016
)http://www.huffingtonpost.gr/2016/01/11/politiki-aegean-syriza_n_8956968.html
29
"Muslim teen Ahmed creates clock, shows to teacher, gets arrested ", by Ashley Fatz, CNN (September 2015)
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/16/us/texas -student-ahmed-muslim-clock-bomb/
have been attacked various times by islamophobic groups all the time throughout 2014, 2015 and
2016, while media and political parties constantly criticise Germany, Austria, Greece and Italy
for their pro-refugees stance. Nevertheless, we should never stigmatise Europeans and
Americans as islamophobic at their whole. Statistics show that the majority of people in many
Western countries have a positive view of Muslims. According to Pew Research Center, 72% of
Britons, 76% of Frenchmen and 69% of Germans have a favourable opinion for Muslims, while
Poland and Italy are the only European countries where islamophobes are the majority of the
population30 . At the same time, in many European countries, such as Germany, Greece, Austria,
Portugal, Italy, France and Spain pro-refugees and anti- islamophobic governments are on power
or similar parties are on the rise.
6. Anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism is a longstanding element of many societies, which see Hebrews as a negative
influence for their culture, severely stigmatise Hebrews as a people full of flaws, consider Jewish
communities and minorities as a burden to the society or disagree with the existence of an Israeli
state. Jews have suffered a lot due to these tendencies throughout the times, with consequences
varying from being deported from their homeland during the Persian and Roman eras, to being
exiled from Medieval Spain and, most of all, to the shocking period of the Holocaust during the
20th century, when millions of them were tortured and killed. Merriam Webster Dictionary
defines Anti-Semitism as "hatred toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic or
social group". Nowadays Anti-Semitism still affects Hebrews through conspiracy theories that
blame Jews for numerous international financial and political problems, through discriminating
stereotypes against Jews, through terrorist attacks on Hebrew spots of various cities and, of
course, by the denial of the right of Israelis to form an independent state in their historic
homeland, as well as by the Holocaust Denial. Also, after World War II the newly founded
Israeli state is heavily criticised for its violent and discriminating oppression of Palestinian
people and for its extremely militarist character as a society, while recently its lack of action
against ISIS has been negatively commented.
Of course, Hebrews are not viewed as terrorists by most people, and their actions are usually
deemed as violent acts of oppression, a necessary part of a war procedure against Arabs or they
even have some sympathisers. The principal element that links Terrorist profiling and antiSemitism is that anti-Semitism constitutes a characteristic example where Racial P rofiling
gradually lead to dreadful discrimination by the authorities within a country, even a democratic
one. Sooner or later the perceptions of the public sphere – simplistic and populist speeches of
politicians, discourses on mass media, popular theories of conspiracy, continuous hatred speech
etc – in democratic countries will inevitably lead to governments who will officially discriminate
30
Five Facts about the Muslim Population in Europe, by Conrad Hackett, Pew Research Center (November 2015)
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/17/5-facts-about-the-muslim-population-in-europe/
in order to keep up with the social tendencies and maintain their popularity. The success of the
islamophobic and anti-Semitist party Front National in France in the recent regional elections 31 is
an example of such a possibility, and the same is true for the popular Republican candidate
Donald J. Trump's proposals for prohibiting the entrance of all Muslims in the USA 32 or for
having them listed in a separate database 33 . Therefore, it should surprise no-one that Jewish
people react firmly against islamophobia in general and in concrete the racist proposals of
Donald Trump and of Front National, because they are one of the people who know best what
the consequences of massive racial profiling could be. For instance, in December 2015, Donald
Trump was forced to cancel an arranged visit to Israel due to the embarrassment of a petition of
37 members of the Parliament who called for this cancelation because "this [visit that lends
support to Trump] disgraces the democratic character of the State of Israel and offends its
Muslim citizens"34 , and of an online petition where about 10.000 American Jews stated "when we
say 'never again' we mean it"35 , making a reference to the Holocaust and suggesting that Trump
has similarities with Hitler.
7. International Legal Framework on Discriminatory
Views and Practices
The most important document ever written on the domain of human rights is the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted in Paris by the General Assembly of the
United Nations in 1948. It consists of 30 articles and it is influenced by pre-existing ideologies
and declarations, such as the French Declaration of Human and Civil Right ( Déclaration des
droits de l’homme et du citoyen, 1789), the United States Constitution and classical
anthropocentric philosophy.
31
"National Front gets a boost in French regional elections", by Alissa J. Martin, The New York Times (December
2015) http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/08/world/europe/marine-le-pen-and-national-front-get-a-boost-infrench-regional-elections.html
32
"Donald Trump: Bar all Muslims from entering the US", CNN (December 2015)
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/12/07/trump-bar-all-muslims-entering-u-s-dana-bash-lead.cnn
33
"Trumps Muslim Da tabase Game", by Amy Davidson, The New Yorker (November 2015)
http://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/trumps-muslim-database-game
34
"Donald Trump cancels Israel visit after commen ts offend Jews and Muslims ", by Josef Federman, The Times of
Israel (December 2015) http://www.timesofisrael.com/37-mks-sign-petition-urging-netanyahu-to-cancel-trumpmeeting/
35
"Over 10.000 Jews sign registry condemning Donald Trump's anti-Muslim Rhetoric: 'Never Again' ", by James
Forsythe, Dead State http://deadstate.org/over-10000-jews-sign-registry-condemning-donald-trumps-antimuslim-rhetoric-never-again/
However, there are some considerable critics as far as the true universality of this Declaration is
concerned by two groups of countries. Firstly, many Asian countries claim that the Declaration
interferes too much in the internal affairs of states in a way that benefits only Western countries
and that it just depicts the Western perception of human rights. Secondly, many Muslim
countries, primordially Saudi Arabia and Iran, feel bound to respect human rights only to the
extent that they do not contradict their traditions and socioreligious norms à propos of the
relations between Muslims and non-Muslims and between men and women. One more critic
against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights focuses on the absence of an article on the
Right to Refuse to Kill, a concept that proved to be very timely and handy for the current
DAESH/ISIS atrocities, where often innocent people are forced to kill someone under the threat
that otherwise they will be punished. In 1974 during his Nobel Lecture the then-assistant
Secretary-General of the United Nations, Sean MacBride, said that "to the rights enshrined in the
Declaration one more might, with relevance, be added: it is the right to refuse to kill", though
nothing has changed ever since.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the principal text of the International Bill of
Human Rights, a trilogy of conventions-declarations on human rights which entered in force in
1976, altogether described by the United Nations as the "Magna Carta for all humanity". The
other two conventions are the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) and the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966). Those three texts are to
be regarded for any case of human rights above any other convention, law or decision and in
particular many parts of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are largely conceived as
Customary International Law and, as such, a peremptory norm for all states and governments
(ius cogens) – this means that no state has the right to violate it at any case 36 .
Furthermore, member-states of the Council of Europe have to respect the European Convention
on Human Rights. For countries who are also members of the European Union this Convention is
to be regarded as superior to their constitutions and directly applied in any national law, due to
its liaison to the Treaties of Lisbon. Respectively, numerous Asia n states have signed the
Bangkok Declaration, which gives us a more state-centric interpretation of human rights, while
numerous Muslim countries have signed the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam, which
is a religion-centric (Muslim) approach of human rights. Delegates representing those groups of
countries (EU member-states, Arabic and Muslim countries, Asian states), but also the rest of the
participants, are encouraged to research the texts of the aforementioned three conventions and
declarations.
36
Custom, ius cogens and human rights, by John Tasioulas, Cambridge University Press (2015)
http://www.law.uchicago.edu/files/files/customjuscogenshrs.pdf
Next, we should mention some important articles of the International Bill on Human Rights,
which are connected with the case of Racial Profiling in general and of Terrorist Profiling in
concrete. We mention articles regarding both how Terrorist Profiling may affect people's lives in
a way that violates their human rights and how legislation on hatred speech or on public
demonstration of religion is to be disputed and sometimes controversial as far as the spirit of
respecting human rights is concerned.
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
-
-
-
-
-
-
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of
all me mbers of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the
world (preamble)
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between
nations (preamble)
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights . They are endowed
with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit o f brotherhood.
(art. 1)
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without
distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no
distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international
status of the country or territory to which a person belongs , whether it be
independent, trust, non-self- governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty. (art.
2)
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal
protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in
violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination. (art. 7)
(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from
persecution.
(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from nonpolitical crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nation
(art. 14)
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right
includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in
community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in
teaching, practice, worship and observance. (art. 18)
-
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom
to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and
ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. (art. 19)
(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community,
to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting
from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author (art. 27)
INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON SOCIAL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS
-
Recognizing that, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
ideal of free human beings enjoying civil and political freedom and freedom from
fear and want can only be achieved if conditions are created whereby everyone may
enjoy his civil and political rights, as well as his economic, social and cultural rights
(preamble)
-
Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to respect and to ensure to all
individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the
present Covenant, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, prope rty, birth or other
status. (part II, art. 2, par. 1)
-
In time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation and the existence of
which is officially proclaimed, the States Parties to the present Covenant may take
measures derogating from their obligations under the present Covenant to the
extent strictly re quired by the exigencies of the situation, provided that such measures
are not inconsistent with their other obligations under international law and do not
involve discrimination solely on the ground of race, colour, sex, language, religion or
social origin. (part II, art. 4, par. 1)
-
No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour (part III, art. 8, par. 3a)
-
Everyone charged with a criminal offence shall have the right to be presumed innocent
until proved guilty according to law. (part III, art. 14, par. 2)
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Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right
shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom,
either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his
religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching. (part III, art. 18, par. 1)
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1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.
2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom
to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers,
either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his
choice.
3. The exercise of the rights provided for in paragraph 2 of this article carries with it
special duties and responsibilities. It may the refore be subject to certain restrictions,
but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary:
(a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others;
(b) For the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public
health or morals (part III, art. 19)
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Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes inciteme nt to
discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law (part III, art. 20, par. 2)
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In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging
to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of
their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, or to
use their own language. (part III, art. 27)
INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMICAL, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL
RIGHTS
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The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to guarantee that the rights
enunciated in the present Covenant will be exercised without discrimination of any
kind as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or
social origin, property, birth or other status. (part I, art. 2, par. 2)
Developing countries, with due regard to human rights and their national economy, may
determine to what extent they would guarantee the economic rights recognized in the
present Covenant to non-nationals. (part I, art 2, par 3)
The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize that, in the enjoyment of those rights
provided by the State in conformity with the present Covenant, the State may subject
such rights only to s uch limitations as are determined by law only in so far as this
may be compatible with the nature of these rights and solely for the purpose of
promoting the general welfare in a democratic society. (part I, art 4)
Lastly, we have to mention that we have at our disposal one of the very few cases where the
issue of Racial Profiling – in times much before Terrorist Profiling had become a separate
concern – reached a court. In the case US vs Armstrong (1996) the 9th Circuit Court ruled that
the law must presume that people of all races can commit all types of crimes and that citizens are
to be treated equally under the law. Nevertheless, in the end the US Supreme Court ruled that
Racial Profiling is constitutional and saw no illegitimate data collection or situation, and
therefore it is not deemed as a violation of human rights. Indeed, in 2001 the Racial Profiling
Data Collection Research Center was founded, and in 2003 the New York City Police
Department Demographics Unit was established, among other similar services and institutes.
However, such services received a lot of critics and they failed to reach any valid conclusions or
produce any worthy result. In 2003 the US Department of Justice issued the Guidance Regarding
the Use of Race by Law Enforcement Agencies, which forbid all types of racial profiling by the
police. President G. W. Bush in 2001 and President Barack Obama in 2015 both spoke publicly
against racial profiling and, therefore, Terrorist profiling as well, and most units focusing on
Racial Profiling have been disbanded step by step during the last years.
8. Conclusions
There is no doubt that terrorist profiling constitutes a severe form of racist discrimination.
Victims of terrorist profiling and other forms of racial profiling suffer from a severe degrading of
their human rights. For instance, some of the rights violated include the right to dignity, the right
to religious expression, the equality of all human beings and the right to free part icipation in
social and cultural life.
Throughout the history of the human race countless people have suffered due to the various
manifestations of racial profiling, ranging from Chinese immigrants to African slaves and from
indigenous people in America and Oceania to ethnic and religious minorities in Europe. In
modern days xenophobia and islamophobia are the most widespread forms of racial and terrorist
profiling, while anti-Semitism remains one of the most characteristic examples of how profiling
can lead to incredible cruelties.
A stricter legislative framework arranging the equal depiction of all people in the media and the
censorship of hatred speeches could be useful and fruitful. However, such measures would raise
new concerns for the interpretation of human rights, since they limit the freedom of speech and
the freedom of information. In the meantime, it is still debatable whether databases including
racial distinctions are really not valid, as long as the data included is scientifically accurate a nd
objectively researched. Nevertheless, possibilities of harmonised anti-profiling policies could be
discussed on the base of voluntary and optional participation, and strong diplomatic pressure
should be exercised on governments who adopt aggressively discriminatory policies based on
terrorist profiling. Countries in favour of profiling could improve the situation, by avoiding
discriminatory practices and hatred speeches, even if the collection of data on racial and terrorist
profiling is promoted by the authorities and used for control of the criminality indexes.
9. Useful Questions for the delegates of the UNHRC
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Does islamophobia really exist or is it an exaggeration? Is it a separate cultural phobia or
simply a branch of xenophobia?
Is racial profiling useful for public authorities and what limits should it have?
Does racial profiling undermine human rights and is it meaningful for it to be illegal?
To what extent do islamophobia and xenophobia violate or disrespect human rights?
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What solutions can be proposed in order to limit indirect or direct discrimination and
hatred speech?
To what extent do such solutions respect human rights?
What are the actions, statements and initiatives of international organisations and of the
Civil Society regarding the domain of racial/terrorist profiling and islamophobia?
Are there ways for the international community to put pressure on governments who
apply xenophobic and islamophobic measures and policies? What would the legitimacy
of such interventions be?
Countries which seize valuables from refugees in Europe are said to treat refugees with
the same criteria applied for local citizens, who also cannot have many valuables if they
want assistance from public authorities. Is this true? If yes, is this allowed by the
international law?
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