ADC Partners with US State Department and OSCE in Event on Anti-Muslim Discrimination

posted on: Sep 28, 2009

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is proud to partner with the US Department of State, US Delegation to the OSCE, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), Tolerance and Non-Discrimination Department (TND), in a formal side-event entitled “Challenging Intolerance against Muslims” during the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) in Warsaw, Poland. The HDIM brings together hundreds of government representatives, experts and human rights defenders to review progress made by OSCE participating States in implementing their commitments in the field of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The meeting is the largest annual human rights gathering in Europe.

ADC will be represented by Kareem Shora, National Executive Director. This will be the ninth OSCE event, in the past four years, at which ADC gives a presentation and the first-ever event coordinated by an Arab or Muslim-American organization, in partnership with the US Department of State, at the OSCE level.

The event will address recent surveys and studies indicating that negative attitudes towards Muslims are still high in many parts of OSCE region, in spite of participating States’ efforts to combat all forms of intolerance and discrimination and promote respect for diversity. This poses one of the greatest challenges to managing our increasingly diverse societies and maintaining peace and security in the region. Therefore, it is essential to raise awareness about intolerance against Muslims and promote a better understanding of Muslims across the OSCE region. In this side event, participants will reflect on how OSCE, particularly ODIHR, can further support educational and awareness-raising initiatives to counter intolerant attitudes and behavior towards Muslims. The discussions will revolve around recent developments, key challenges, opportunities and barriers, lessons learned, effective and less effective methodologies and approaches, and examples of good practice from throughout the OSCE region.