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Officials in Europe and the United Stated will gather together at the upcoming European Islamophobia Summit to find solutions to the challenge of Islamophobia, religious bigotry and anti-Muslim hate crimes in Europe.

The Summit – scheduled to take place on June 24-26 in Sarajevo, Bosnia – will discuss best policy practices to help combat Islamophobia; hold a panel discussion on how communities can work together to combat different forms of prejudice and bigotry; and convene an inter-faith Ramadan Iftar dinner of over 400 guests in Sarajevo’s Bašcarsija. Other agenda of the Summit include the signing of a joint Istanbul-Sarajevo Declaration on Islamophobia, reflecting a renewed commitment and effort to tackling anti-Muslim hate crimes and bigotry by both cities.  

The Summit will also discuss the implications of divisive and hateful rhetoric, a topical issue in light of the recent killing of 41-year-old British MP, Jo Cox, who was campaigning for Britain to remain in the EU.

According to Dilcra, the French government body tasked with monitoring racism, 400 hate crimes were recorded against French Muslims in 2015. In Spain, the Spanish Federation of Islamic Religious Entities said there was an 11-fold increase in reports of anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2015, with 534 attacks, compared to 48 in 2014. Anti-Muslim hate crimes have reportedly tripled in London after the Paris attacks in December 2015.

An 1800-person survey conducted by Islamic Human Rights Commission shows that between 2010 and 2014, the percentage of people who reported they witnessed Islamophobic attacks increased from 50 per cent to 82 per cent.

“Islamophobia represents a major challenge to European democracy, freedoms and its values of tolerance and pluralism,” said Academic Advisor to the Summit, Dr. Farid Hafez of Salzburg University. “Against the backdrop of calls by US Presidential candidate Donald Trump to ban Muslims from entering the USA and Hungary’s Prime Minister and upcoming EU President and Slovak Prime Minister both stating Islam has no place in their countries, the need for a Summit uniting political, academic, media and civil society leaders against Islamophobia is timelier than ever.”

Confirmed participants at the Summit include former British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw; Chairman of Bosnia’s Presidency, Bakir Izetbegovic; Founder of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Bernard Kouchner; international media anchor, Mehdi Hassan; and the Grand Mufti of Sarajevo, Husein Kavazovic; amongst other European and U.S. political, academic and civil-society leaders.

The European Islamophobia Summit has condemned the recent mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, United States, where 49 people were killed by 29-year-old Omar Mateen. It has been described as the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in U.S. history. Mateen reportedly swore allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in a 911 call he made during the attack.

"ISIS attacks intend to divide western societies by establishing the ‘grey zone’; the destruction of peaceful co-existence between Muslims and non-Muslims," said Director of Development at the Center for Global Policy, Haroon Moghul. "An Islamophobic reaction is precisely what ISIS terrorists and Far-Right Islamophobic activists hope for in order to realise their clash of civilisations narratives.”

Moghul who is also a Summit moderator further stated that counter-Islamophobia efforts are crucial to counter-extremism efforts.
 
“All forms of bigotry and prejudice are abhorrent and share the same pernicious structure. This is why at the European Islamophobia Summit, we will discuss fostering cross-community unity against not just Islamophobia, but all forms of prejudice and bigotry.” said, Muddassar Ahmed, a member of the European Islamophobia Summit Advisory Panel and Patron of the Faiths Forum for London, who also offered the Forum's deepest condolences to the families of the victims of the Orlando mass shooting.

The European Islamophobia Summit will take place across various Sarajevo landmarks including the Sarajevo National Library (within Sarajevo’s City Hall), the Sarajevo National Theatre and Sarajevo’s old bazaar. The summit will be held in partnership with the city Government of Sarajevo.

Just days after the European Islamophobia Summit, Muslims will commemorated the 21st anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, which happened in July 1995, during the Bosnian war. More than 8,000 Muslim Bosniaks were massacred in Srebrenica, near Sarajevo, by units of the Bosnian Serb Army.

“The choice of Sarajevo, Bosnia as the location for the first European Islamophobia Summit is notable because Bosnia’s history is an example of what can happen when anti-Muslim and racist rhetoric goes unabated," Ahmed said.