Starting point: Islamophobia in Barcelona
Barcelona is both a meeting point and a melting pot for people from a variety of backgrounds, religions, ideologies and origins. Barcelona’s Muslim communities are made up of as many as three or more generations, two of which were born here.
Islam is another element in the city’s cultural and religious diversity. The last few years have seen an upturn in the number
of hate crimes detected, especially against the Muslim population or people perceived as Muslim.
The few data available from Barcelona’s Provincial Public Prosecutor’s Office, social organisations and academic studies highlight how
Barcelona has been seeing:
•
Discrimination against the Muslim population, because of religion, culture, origin or sex, has been intensifying over the last few years. Such discrimination is called Islamophobia.•
Most forms of Islamophobic discrimination take place at school, in public spaces, in the media and at work.•
Women are the main victims of Islamophobia.•
The lack of data on hate crimes and speeches makes it hard to apply public policies.•
Victims suffering discrimination do not know their rights or mistrust the institutions available for reporting their cases. All in all it can be inferred that Islamophobia is a real problemin Barcelona and worrying for society on the whole, as discrimination affects cohesion and positive community life among citizens.
CONTENTS
1.
Starting point: Islamophobia in Barcelona
2.
What is the Municipal plan to combat Islamophobia?
3.
Who is behind it?
4.
Who is it aimed at?
5.
Why do we need it?
6.
How was it drawn up?
7.
Lines of action
4.
Who is it aimed at?
At all Barcelona’s citizens, above all victims of Islamaphobia.
5.
Why do we need it?
The Plan was drafted with the following goals:
•
Presenting Islamophobia as a form of discrimination•
Debunking prejudices and stereotypes against Islam and Muslim individuals.•
Strengthening the channels for reporting cases to provide victims of Islamophobia with coordinated and effective support.6.
How was it drawn up?
The Plan came about from a consultation process with human-rights organisations, Muslim communities
and professional staff from several of the City Council’s Areas. It also received advice from experts.
The main reflections and contributions were analysed and included in the Plan.
The Plan is also based on several international and state legal texts which cover the right to equality and non-discrimination
and the right to freedom of conscience and religion. Barcelona City Council is therefore adopting the following
Municipal plan to combat Islamophobia
2.
What is the Municipal plan
to combat Islamophobia?
It is document which contains the measures that
Barcelona City Council is taking to prevent discrimination
against Muslims or people perceived as Muslims and to ensure the right to equality and non-discrimination.
The Plan was approved in January 2017 and will be implemented over the coming 18 months.
The Plan is part of the “Barcelona City of Rights” programme which promotes a diverse, fair and cohesive city,
where differences are respected and appreciated. And where everyone’s human rights are recognised and met, without any type of discrimination.
3.
Who is behind it?
Barcelona City Council.
•
Providing Muslim women with access to channels for reporting any discriminatory action.Improving data-gathering on Islamophobic discrimination
•
Creating an observatory of hate crimes and speeches that collects data and publishes a report every year to present the current situation.•
Training municipal workers to avoid discriminatory attitudes,not just when attending to the public but also when dealing with colleagues.
•
Drafting a manual to enable municipal workers to identify discriminatory Islamophobic behaviour.•
Updating the City Police’s Action regulations for preventing and avoiding discriminatory attitudes to include Islamophobia as a hate crime to be clamp down on.Officers will also be given training.
Boosting awareness initiatives in schools
Offering help to organisations that carry out awareness
and training initiatives at schools against hate crimes and speeches.
General goal 2:
DEBUNKING PREJUDICES AND STEREOTYPES AGAINST
ISLAM AND MUSLIM INDIVIDUALS
Promoting networking against discriminatory rumours
Strengthening the Barcelona Anti-Rumour Network through greater political and financial support and training anti-rumour officers on Islamophobia.
Promoting involvement from people with
different religious practices and ethnic origins in:
•
Municipal information campaigns.•
The media, above all Betevé and Betevé Ràdio.7.
Lines of action
Every general goal is divided up into specific goals setting out various preventive and rights-ensuring initiatives.
General goal 1:
PRESENTING ISLAMOPHOBIA AS A FORM OF DISCRIMINATION
Informing the public and raising its awareness
•
Launching a municipal communication campaign to explain the discrimination that Muslims experience and its effects.•
Including Islamophobia in the “BCNvsHate: Strategies for Combating Intolerance on Social Media” conference, held on 2 and 3 March 2017 in the CCCB.Giving support to Muslim communities
when explaining Islamophobic crimes and speeches
•
Creating guides to provide information on public rights and how they are guaranteed, especially with regard to discrimination against Muslim women.Work will be carried out in collaboration with Muslim associations and centres of worship.
•
Working jointly with Muslim communities to preparefor International Day against Islamophobia, on 12 December.
Putting special emphasis on discrimination against Muslim women
•
Taking into account the needs of women when designing and applying the Plan’s measures.•
Presenting the double discrimination that Muslim women suffer, because of their gender and religion, in educationalGeneral goal 3:
STRENGTHENING THE CHANNELS
FOR REPORTING CASES TO PROVIDE VICTIMS
WITH COORDINATED AND EFFECTIVE SUPPORT
Promoting coordination between players and institutions protecting rights and fighting against hate crimes
and discrimination
•
Strengthening communication between the Barcelona Provincial Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Mossos d’Esquadra[Catalan regional police] and the City Council.
•
Sharing information between the Area of Security, Area of Citizen Rights and the City Police.Promoting strategic legal actions to protect victims of Islamophobic discrimination
•
The most serious cases will prompt the City Council to bring its own prosecution against the accused, to find solutions not just for the victims but also for the whole of society.•
Offering specialist legal advice in Islamophobia from the Office for Non-Discrimination(OND).The lawyers providing this service will be given special training.
Clamping down on discrimination against Muslims in the city
•
Training the OND’s professional team to be able to act in the various cases of Islamophobia.•
Networking from the OND with other public services (education, health or transport) to act against forms of Islamophobic discrimination.•
Monitoring complaints against discrimination receivedby the services that do not fall within the City Council’s jurisdiction.
Promoting education in diversity
•
Launching workshops in schools on diversity and Islamophobia.•
Commemorating International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 21 March, at schools run by the Barcelona Education Consortium (CEB).Guaranteeing the right to freedom of religion at school
•
Monitoring the regulations on food diversity at schools run by the CEB.•
Providing information on and monitoring the regulations on religious symbols in dress codes at schools run by the CEB. There will be collaboration in re-publishing and disseminating the Guide to diversity of beliefs in schools.Carrying out community mediation in opening centres of worship in the city
Preparing a practical community mediation protocol for opening centres of worship in the city.
Promoting non-discrimination against religions at work
Preparing a guide with recommendations and good practices for respecting religious diversity in the workplace.
Contact us
IF YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED OR KNOW OF ANY SITUATION OF DISCRIMINATION
GET IN TOUCH WITH:
- OFFICE FOR
NON-DISCRIMINATION:
Tel. 93 413 20 00 [email protected]
ajuntament.barcelona.cat/oficina-no-discriminacio/
- GUÀRDIA URBANA
[city police]: Tel. 092FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
