Ilhan Omar Calls on US Secretary of State to Appoint Special Envoy to Fight Islamophobia

Washington DC, MINA – The nearly 25 Democratic US legislators led by Ilhan Omar called on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to appoint a special envoy to fight Islamophobia, following a global increase in attacks and abuses against Muslims.

Minnesota Muslim Representative Ilhan Omar wrote a letter asking Blinken to make Islamophobia a priority, and to include state-sponsored Islamophobic violence in next year’s human rights prisoners report.

“As part of our commitment to international religious freedom and human rights, we must recognize Islamophobia as a pattern that repeats itself in almost every corner of the world,” the Muslim lawmaker wrote in a letter, The New Arab reported.

Omar joined fellow Muslim Democrat Rashida Tlaib and 23 other Democrats in signing the letter.

The petition cites the 2021 annual US report on the Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) which found that China, India and Myanmar exhibit “a pattern of persecution and human rights abuses against their entire Muslim populations or specific Muslim sects”.

“It is time for the United States to stand firm in support of religious freedom for all, and to give the global problem of Islamophobia the attention and priority it deserves,” she said.

Last month Canadian lawmakers unanimously adopted a motion calling for “holding an Emergency National Action Summit on Islamophobia” after a pick-up truck rammed and killed four Muslim family members in the southern Canadian province of Ontario, in what police called a “planned attack.” ” (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)