Islamophobia by Numbers

Manifestations of Islamophobia in different spheres include:

Islamophobia is a systemic problem that manifests itself across society in various ways, at times clearly noticeable and at other times more subtly, resulting in the exclusion of Muslims from fully enjoying their freedoms, rights and opportunities as equal citizens.

Some forms of manifestation of this Islamophobia include but are not limited to:

Education

• Muslim children regularly encountering Islamophobia in the playground, with some being called “terrorists” and being told to “go back to your country”. [8]
• Childline in 2015/16 providing 981 counselling sessions because of racist/faith-related bullying. [9]
• Following the Manchester Arena attack in 2017, Childline providing 300 sessions solely because of religiously-motivated bullying. [10]
• The UK’s counter-terror apparatus, PREVENT, being used to inappropriately flag students for their views, stifling legitimate discussion, and overtly targeting Muslim students. [11]

Employment

• CVs with Muslim names being three times more likely to get rejected compared to English-sounding names despite having identical skills and experiences. [12]
• One in eight Pakistani women being illegally asked at interview about their future plans regarding marriage and family – compared to one in thirty for White women. [13]
• 50% of women wearing the hijab feeling that they have missed out on clear progression opportunities because of religious discrimination. [14]

Media

• As demonstrated by studies, mainstream media using 21 negative terms when referring to Muslims for every neutral or positive term. [15]
• Inaccurate, discriminatory and insulting headlines targeting Muslim communities being published on a regular basis with no adequate sanction against or deterrent for newspapers.
• As noted by Demos, thousands of Islamophobic tweets being sent out every single day unhindered by inadequate legislation covering Islamophobia on social media platforms. [16]

Hate crime

• Mosques and Muslim community centres being regularly vandalised, set on fire and targeted with bomb threats.
• Individuals being deliberately targeted with grotesque violence because of their faith, with more than 8,000 religiously-motivated hate crimes in 2017/18. [17]
• Nearly 2,000 Islamophobic offences occurring in London between 2017/18. [18]

Civil liberties

• Policies being enacted which constantly frame Muslims under light of the “counter-terrorism” narrative.
• Muslims being disproportionately stopped at airports for reasons as spurious as reading books or returning from pilgrimage [19] with the Equality and Human Rights Commission noting that it was 11.3 times more likely for an Asian to be stopped compared to their White counterpart. [20]
• Muslim children being erroneously flagged by PREVENT and CHANNEL for reasons ranging from wrongly-interpreted t-shirts to campaigning for human rights issues. [21]
• With 80% of Channel referrals being proved unwarranted, the UK’s counter-extremism apparatus acting to stigmatise individuals and reinforcing incorrect stereotypes. [22]