Muslims Face Discrimination: Amnesty

Focusing on Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland, Amnesty International deplores the state of affairs whereby their immigrant Muslim populations appear to have been targeted.  The group has urged European governments to 'do more' to challenge negative stereotypes and prejudices against Islam.


Do they then feel that European governments should defend the gradual diminishment of their culture and heritage to aid their Muslim immigrant populations to feel more comfortable in a social environment that will have been altered to more closely reflect that of majority Muslim countries?  Don't most host countries feel loathe to surrender their national identities as a sacrifice in welcoming those from other cultures?


Does it not seem more sensible for the indigenous culture and heritage and values to prevail, with the welcomed immigrant population adapting to the prevailing social priorities in an effort to fit into the existing social compact?  And since it is an observable fact that once enough Muslims have entered a country they feel entitled to seek to impose their religious values on those around them through a move toward imposition of Sharia law, it can hardly be surprising that backlash results.


In particular the Amnesty report criticized countries that have taken steps to remove the more visible symbols of Islam's presence in their countries, through the bans on face-covering veils or the use of religious symbols in schools.  "Rather than countering these prejudices, political parties and public officials are all too often pandering to them in their quest for votes", according to Amnesty's expert on discrimination.


"Muslim women are being denied jobs and girls prevented from attending regular classes just because they wear traditional forms of dress, such as the head scarf.  Men can be dismissed for wearing beards associated with Islam.  EU legislation prohibiting discrimination on the ground of religion or belief in the area of employment seems to be toothless across Europe, as we observe a higher rate of unemployment among Muslims", asserts Marco Perolini.


Assimilation would certainly go a long away to solving those stated problems.  The wearing of the head scarf is rarely the problem; hiding facial features with the use of a face veil is.  Although this is classed as a religious symbol, it is not; it is a purely cultural one.  On entering a new majority culture that dismisses the segregation of women in favour of gender equality, the onus should be on the newly-introduced to a country to adapt to new cultural values.


Host countries generally go out of the way to welcome newcomers.  There is a reciprocal responsibility on the part of emigrants to another country to demonstrate their respect for and willingness to adopt new values reflective of those of the welcoming country.  When separate enclaves result, and the new demographic spurns the values and priorities of the host, this is when polarization takes place.


All the more so, when the immigrant community insists on its entitlement to remain separate yet expectant that it will derive all the benefits that accrue through new residency and citizenship without making an effort to appreciate these new social benefits through adaptation to social/cultural features dominant within the new society.