Council : Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Comittee

Country : Tunisia

Topic : Protecting the Fundamental Rights of Muslim minorities towards

the Rise of Islamophopia
Name : Andi Nur Rizqi Ramadhani Syam

INTRODUCTION

The General Assembly today adopted without a recorded vote two texts, including one that
strongly condemns continuing violence and acts of terrorism targeting individuals, including
persons belonging to religious minorities, based on or in the name of religion or belief. For
quite sometimes, Islamophobia has been growing strongly in the West and has continued to
take root through intensive campaigns and public discourses disseminating fear of Islam, and
through a significant number of incidents targeting Muslims, mosques, Islamic centers, Islamic
attire, and Islam’s sacred symbols. Reports and evidence reveal that negative sentiment toward
Islam and Muslims keeps expanding in the minds of mainstream Westerners, through mistrust
toward Islam and its adherents.

Particularly during the last few years, Islamophobia has reached an intractable point as it
continues to grow, despite up-and-down graphic from time to time. This is reflected in the wide
scale of negative narratives against Islam, as well as through incidents targeting mosques,
Islamic centers, Muslim individuals and communities, and women wearing the veil or hijab.
Mosques and Islamic centers are the most common target, as a significant number of incidents
of vandalism and arson involving mosques and prayer facilities are occurring in the U.S.,
Canada, Germany, Sweden, UK and Netherlands.

The current main hotspots of Islamophobia remain the U.S. and Europe. In the U.S., the
Islamophobia trend is the most concerning in terms of scale. Racist graffiti, pig carcass
dumping, threatening mail, Holy Quran defacing, physical assaults, and verbal insults are
among the frequent incidents Islamophobia, therefore, is not an issue that ‘stands alone’, for it
is very close connected with other issues which reciprocally feed the phenomena. In simpler
words, 9/11 was a problem of terrorism; ISIS was problem of radicalization and violent
extremism, while Islamophobia was actually something else, but it was so affected by those
issues in term vice-versa. Terrorism and violent extremism both had boosted Islamophobia
elsewhere, which was the fact, and the fast-growing Islamophobia had nurtured extremism and
terrorism, which was just another fact. By consequence, addressing the issue of Islamophobia
must be undertaken in parallel with efforts to tackle other ‘related issues’ which is
unfortunately not an easy matter

TUNISIA’S ROLE IN PROTECTING THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF MUSLIM

MINORITIES TOWARDS THE RISE OF ISLAMOPHOBIA

The constitution, passed in January, states that the country’s “religion is Islam” and designates
the government as the “guardian of religion.” The constitution establishes the country as a civil
state based on citizenship, prohibits the use of mosques and houses of worship to advance
political agendas or objectives, and guarantees freedom of belief, conscience, and exercise of
religious practice. Civil law is not religious in nature, but family and inheritance laws do, in
some circumstances, draw from sharia. The Ministry of Religious Affairs (MRA) stated it had
re-established control over mosques that had been operating outside government oversight and
closed broadcasting outlets it accused of preaching religious intolerance and having ties to
extremist organizations. The government arrested several individuals in connection with
violent attacks against security personnel.

Although religious conversion was legal, there was significant societal pressure against
Muslims leaving the faith. Some Christians who converted from Islam expressed concerns
about threats of violence from members of their families or others. The embassy maintained
frequent contact with leaders of religious groups throughout the country. The Ambassador in
May attended the Lag B’Omer pilgrimage to El-Ghriba Synagogue, North Africa’s oldest, and
met with leaders of the Jewish community in Djerba. Embassy officials continued to meet
regularly with government officials throughout the year to reinforce the importance the U.S.
government places on religious freedom and tolerance. Conversations focused on government
efforts to re-establish control over mosques and reported threats to Muslims who had converted
to other faiths.
 TUNISIA’S STANCE ON PROTECTING THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF
MUSLIM MINORITIES TOWARDS THE RISE OF ISLAMOPHOBIA

Tunisia's President Kais Saied and Qatar seek to promote dialogue between Muslims and the
West to prevent anti-Muslim backlashes following extremist attacks. The initiative appeared
to be at least partly in response to recent remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron that
Islam is "in crisis" following a series of jihadist attacks in France. Last month, the French leader
also unveiled plans to defend his country's secular values against "Islamist radicalism", which
sparked criticism from across the Muslim world.

Saied and a large Tunisian delegation were in Qatar for a three-day state visit, during which
the two sides also discussed the hot-button topic of conflict-hit Libya, according to the Qatari
foreign ministry. The ministry gave no further details of the meetings concerning Libya. The
visit came during a week of UN-led talks on Libya held in neighbouring Tunisia that were set
to conclude on Sunday. The political talks brought together 75 delegates selected by the UN to
represent a broad range of constituencies in the latest efforts to end a decade of conflict in the
North African country. Observers have criticised the way the delegates were chosen and cast
doubts over their clout in the country, where two administrations are already vying for power.

PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
Hatred, suspicion, fear and a general avoidance of Islam and Muslims, is
something that is far broader and pervasive than street violence, though this is it’s
sharp-edged manifestation. If we genuinely desire to end these acts against
Muslims, we must look at the structural roots of Islamophobia.

1. Build relationships with the local Muslim community.

Wherever you are, there is probably a local Muslim community, and a Muslim
community that may increasingly feel that it is isolated and fearful. Establishing links
with local Muslim communities is something that I believe Quakers in are particular
are adept at doing and should be encouraged to do

2. Advocate against anti-Islamic

 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Garvalov, I. (2009). The united nations international convention on the elimination of all
forms of racial discrimination. Synergies in Minority Protection: European and
International Law Perspectives, 2106(January), 249–277.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511575372.010
Observatory, E. O. I. C., On, R., & The, P. T. O. (2018). Eleventh Oic Observatory Report
on. April.
Session, S. (2008). General Assembly Meetings Coverage. GA/10798, 2019–2021.
US Department of State. (2014). 2014 International Religious Freedom Report Tunisia. July,
1–6. https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/238692.pdf

(Session, 2008) (Observatory et al., 2018)(US Department of State, 2014)(Garvalov, 2009)