The Britain government has dropped work on an official definition of Islamophobia that was promised more than three years ago.
The new development came days before the beginning of an awareness-raising month against anti-Muslim prejudice. Tuesday marked the beginning of the tenth annual Islamophobia Awareness Month, a campaign launched by British Muslim organisations in 2012.
“Year after year, British Muslims are victims of the highest proportion of religiously motivated hate crime. This trend shows no sign of abating under the Conservative government,” Labour MP Afzal Khan told The Independent.
“I think there are good arguments both for and against having an official definition but the adoption of a definition which had the confidence of Muslim communities and organisations would have signalled to them that the government took the issue of Islamophobia seriously,” Khadijah el-Shayyal, a researcher at Edinburgh University with a focus on Islam in Britain, told Middle East Eye. “It could also have served as a reference point to those seeking redress against structural Islamophobia, or for those educating against it.”
In May 2019, the late James Brokenshire – then the communities secretary – said the government would seek to establish a working definition of Islamophobia, adding: “To get a firmer grip on the nature of this bigotry and division, we agree there needs to be a formal definition of Islamophobia to help strengthen our efforts.”
