U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) joined several House colleagues this week to introduce the Combating International Islamophobia Act, legislation that will combat the rise of Islamophobia in the United States and around the world. Led by U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09), the bill requires the U.S. State Department to create a Special Envoy for monitoring and combating Islamophobia and include state-sponsored Islamophobic violence in the Department's annual human rights reports. The creation of the Special Envoy will help policymakers better understand the global problem of anti-Muslim bigotry. It will also establish a comprehensive strategy for establishing U.S. leadership in combatting Islamophobia worldwide.
“Islamophobia is a plague on our nation. We must stamp it out whenever it rears its ugly head,” said Rep. Pascrell, whose district is home to a sprawling Muslim-American population. “Here in New Jersey and across America, we must remain vigilant against acts of hatred. The bill we’ve introduced this week will create a Special Envoy to seek out Islamophobic sentiment and combat it with the full force of the federal government. I am proud to join with my colleagues on this legislation that will take the fight to the evil that is Islamophobia and religious bigotry.”
There has been a staggering rise in incidents of violent Islamophobia incidents worldwide. Whether it is the atrocities being committed against the Uyghurs in China and the Rohingya in Burma, the crackdowns on Muslim populations in India and Sri Lanka, the scapegoating of Muslim refugees and other Muslims in Hungary and Poland, the acts of white supremacist violence targeting Muslims in New Zealand and Canada, or the targeting of minority Muslim communities in Muslim-majority countries like Pakistan, Bahrain, and Iran – the problem of Islamophobia is global in scope.
Rep. Pascrell has been aconsistent opponentof religious bigotry and has been theforemost advocatein Congress forgreater scrutiny of right-wingand other domestic extremist groups who often place religious groups at the center of their deranged conspiracy theories. Pascrell has also been alongtime championof increased funding for the federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP), which helps protect houses of worship from attacks.
Full text of the Combating International Islamophobia Act is available here.
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