Europe

Home page

Europe

Amnesty International condemns discrimination against Muslims in Europe

28 April 2012 09:14 (UTC +04:00)

In its report, which focuses on France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland, Amnesty International calls on European governments â€œto do more to take the negative stereotypes against the Muslims, that fuel discrimination, mainly in education and the workplace.â€

â€œRather than respond to these prejudices, political partiesâ€ to â€œpander in their quest for electoral votes,â€ said Marco Perolini of Amnesty.

â€œMuslim women are denied jobs and girls are prevented from going to school simply because they wear traditional clothing such as headscarves,â€ he noted.

European legislation matter â€œappears to be ineffective because we observe a higher rate of unemployment among Muslims, especially Muslim women of foreign origin,â€ Mr. Perolini.

In its report entitled â€œChoice and prejudice: discrimination against Muslims in Europeâ€, Amnesty insists that â€œwearing symbols or clothing, religious or cultural part of the right of freedom of expression.â€

The organization also criticized the limited access is to pray for Muslims, especially in Switzerland where the population voted in 2009 against the construction of new minarets and Catalonia (eastern Spain), where some have to pray outside of fault locations appropriate prayer.