The Government have established a working group to provide a definition of anti-Muslim hatred/Islamophobia, chaired by the right hon. Dominic Grieve KC.
The group will advise the Government on how to best understand, quantify and define prejudice, discrimination and hate crimes against Muslims. Details of the group’s terms of reference and membership will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Incidents of anti-Muslim hate crime are at a record high in England and Wales, and the group’s work will support wider efforts to tackle religiously motivated hate crime, delivering on the Government’s plan for change mission for safer streets.
Alongside drawing on their own expertise, members will engage widely to ensure the definition accounts for the variety of backgrounds and experiences of Muslim communities across the United Kingdom.
The group’s proposed definition will be non-statutory and will seek to provide the Government and other relevant bodies with an understanding of unacceptable treatment and prejudice against Muslim communities.
The group’s proposed definition must be compatible with the unchanging right of British citizens to exercise freedom of speech and expression—which includes the right to criticise, express dislike of, or insult religions and or the beliefs and practices of adherents. This work will support these important freedoms, ensuring that they are preserved.
The Government will continue to work with communities and other partners to heal the divisions of recent years and renew our country together. The working group announced today is an important step in that mission.
[HCWS487]