Thank you chair for the recognition.

Islamophobia is an intense fear or hatred of, or prejudice against,

the Islamic religion or Muslims, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or the source of
terrorism. It creates a distorted understanding of Islam and Muslims and transforms diversity in name,
language, culture, ethnicity, and race into a set of stereotyped characteristics. As such, Islamophobia
is a system of both religious and racial animosity. The widespread hate does not just affect Muslim
men, women, and children, who share the so called radicalized Muslim characteristics in their
language, clothing or skin colour which is predominantly brown but even other minorities like Sikhs,
Christian Arabs, and Hindu Indians. Not just them but those who stand in solidarity with them face
discrimination and death threats. Ignorance about Islam and Muslims, xenophobia and the actions of
extremist Muslims-and there are extremist groups in every community- are the factors that spawn
Islamophobia in societies. Hate speeches and propaganda, anti-Islamic politics and practice, and
daily discriminatory practices are the ways people spread Islamophobia.

The word Phobia, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary and Oxford dictionary means (I
quote)- an IRRATIONAL fear of a completely normal situation or thing that most likely means no harm
to the phobic. Islam is a faith, a worldview. Therefore, the word Islamophobia in itself implies that the
fear of Islam is irrational.

Thank you