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Dawn – Oct. 1, 2007
UK law on inciting religious hatred in force
LONDON, Oct 1, 2007: A new act which came into force on Monday in England and Wales makes it illegal to incite hatred against Muslims, Christians and other religious groups.
The Racial and Religious Hatred Act creates a new offence of intentionally stirring up religious hatred against people on religious grounds, closing a gap in the current legislation.
The new offence, however, is limited to threatening words or behaviour, and there is a requirement for the prosecution to prove intention to stir up religious hatred. In addition, there is a limiting statement, protecting legitimate freedom of expression, in the following terms:
“Nothing in this Part shall be read or given effect in a way which prohibits or restricts discussion, criticism or expressions of antipathy, dislike, ridicule, insult or abuse of particular religions or the beliefs or practices of their adherents, or of any other belief system or the beliefs or practices of its adherents, or proselytising or urging adherents of a different religion or belief system to cease practising their religion or belief system”.
Existing offences in the Public Order Act 1986 legislate against inciting racial hatred. Jews and Sikhs have been deemed by the courts to be racial groups and are protected under this legislation, but other groups such as Muslims and Christians are considered to be religious rather than racial groups and have therefore not previously received any protection under the law.
The new Act will give protection to these groups by outlawing the use of threatening words or behaviour intended to incite hatred against groups of people defined by their religious beliefs or lack of belief.
This Act is said to close the small but important gap in the law against extremists who stir up hatred in communities.
The Racial and Religious Hatred Act received the Royal Assent on February 16, 2006.
Legislation against religiously and racially aggravated crimes is already in force under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. The Act introduced nine racially or religiously aggravated offences, (including assaults, criminal damage, public order offences and harassment) which make higher maximum penalties available to the courts where there is evidence of racist or religious motivation or hostility in connection with an offence.
The reference to “religious belief or lack of religious belief” is a broad one, and is in line with the freedom of religion guaranteed by Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
CAIR-CAN Bulletin – October 5, 2007
Proposed hijab-ban discriminates against Quebec women
Ottawa, Canada - October 5, 2007 - The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) today called the Quebec Council on the Status of Women's demand to ban the hijab in workplaces discriminatory against women. The Quebec Council is demanding that all public and para-public employees be forced to remove religious clothing, headwear or jewellery, including the Islamic hijab and Jewish yarmulkes.
Conversely, in the mid-90s, when high school students were being expelled for wearing the hijab, the Council supported women's right to wear the veil. Eventually the hijab-expulsions issue was decided by the Quebec Human Rights Commission, who ruled that Quebec schools could not stop students from wearing religious attire, including turbans, yarmulkes, crosses, and hijabs.
The hijab-ban, if implemented, besides curtailing right to religious practice, will leave Muslim women who choose to wear the head scarf unemployable in Quebec’s public and para-public sectors.
"The proposed hijab-ban by the Quebec Council on the Status of Women clearly runs against the interests of women. If implemented, the ban will lead to institutionalized discrimination against Quebec's Muslim women by barring them from working in government sectors. This runs in direct contravention to the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms which prohibits employment discrimination against women.
"Little more than 10 years ago the Council spoke out against expelling high school students wearing the hijab. The current proposed hijab-ban is a clear flip-flopped on the issue," said Shahina Siddiqui, CAIR-CAN Board Member.
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