Should Congress establish an office in the Department of Defense to monitor and combat Islamophobia in foreign countries?
Summary: This bill establishes the Office to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia within the Department of Defense to monitor and combat Islamophobia in foreign countries, as well as requires information relating to Islamophobia to be included within annual reports to Congress. This information includes acts of violence or harassment of Muslim people, instances of propaganda in media that justifies, promotes, or incites hatred or violence against Muslim people, and actions taken by a country’s government to respond to these acts.
Sponsor: Rep. Ilhan Omar (Democrat, Minnesota, District 5)
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How do you feel?
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Opponents say
• "I don’t believe that we should simply create an office in a bureaucracy each time with a specific title, lest we have a State Department that is balkanized more than the area from which that name comes. So I’m not going to be able to support this." Source: Rep. Darrell Issa (Republican. California, District 50)
• "I oppose this legislation. I think we can all agree that persecution against any person or any group on the basis of religion cannot and should not be tolerated. It’s a fundamental value upon which this nation was founded, which is why the free exercise of religion is protected by the very first amendment of our Constitution. That same fundamental belief also explains why the U.S. government already has three offices that work on international religious freedom issues. The State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, the State Department’s Bureau of International Religious Freedom, and the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom. We even have an ambassador at large for international religious freedom – currently! We already have these things." Source: Rep. Steve Chabot (Republican, Ohio, District 1)
Proponents say
• "We are seeing a rise in Islamophobia in nearly every corner of the globe. In my home state of Minnesota, vandals spray-painted hate messages and a Nazi swastika on and near the Moorhead Fargo Islamic Center. These types of incidents are all too common for Muslims in the United States and beyond. As part of our commitment to international religious freedom and human rights, we must recognize Islamophobia and do all we can to eradicate it. That’s why I’m proud to partner with Rep. Jan Schakowsky to create a special envoy to put an end to this bigotry." Source: Rep. Ilhan Omar (Democrat, Minnesota, District 5)
• "While global Islamophobia, anti-Muslim state policies and hate incidents have increased for the past two decades, the American Muslim community has consistently called for the creation of a special envoy position to monitor and combat this rising tide of hate. CAIR is calling on congressional leadership and the Biden-Harris administration to support the Combating International Islamophobia Act and make this special envoy position a reality." Source: Nihad Awad, CAIR National Executive Director.
- Reps Omar, Schakowsky Introduce Combating Global Islamophobia Bill (Press Release)
- Omar, Schakowsky push bill to combat Islamophobia abroad amid rising concerns about Uyghurs, Rohingya (Washington Post)
- First on CNN: Ilhan Omar leads group calling for special envoy to combat Islamophobia (CNN)
- Foreign Relations Committee members clash over Islamophobia envoy bill (Jewish Insider)
