European Recipe to End Islamophobia

"First, Islamophobia could be conceived within the context of xenophobia and racism against immigrants and ethnic minorities," Beate Winkler, the director of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), told IslamOnline.net in an interview on Monday, January22 .

"Therefore, combating Islamophobia is linked to fighting racism at all levels," she added.

An EUMC report on December 18 said that Muslim minorities in Europe were facing discrimination at all levels in addition to many barriers blocking their integration into their societies, which fan feelings of hopelessness and exclusion.

The report, "Muslims in the European Union: Discrimination and Islamophobia", said that Muslims were over-represented in low-paying sectors of the economy and that their educational achievement falls below average.

It also indicated that unemployment rates among Muslims are higher than average and that they are often disproportionately represented in areas with poorer housing conditions.

"The EUMC report showed that many European Muslims are victims of discriminatory practices in jobs and housing," said Winkler.

"These practices remain under-documented and under-reported."

There are no official estimates of the number of Muslims in Europe.

The European Union is home to 15 million Muslims, the second largest religious community in the expanding25 -nation bloc.

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