^{Co-organized by OIC, Forum on Combating Anti-Muslim Discrimination Focuses on Solutions}

^{18/01/2017 - The OIC Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations together with Permanent Missions of Canada, the United States, and the EU Delegation co-organized on Tuesday, 17 January 2017, a High Level Forum on combating anti-Muslim discrimination and hatred. The Forum, held at the UN headquarters in New York, brought together representatives of governments, civil society and individuals from the academia. Throughout the Forum deliberations, there was a clear recognition of the rise of anti-Muslim discrimination and hatred in many parts of the world and a general consensus on the need for a concerted effort by all sectors of society to focus on solutions to this growing challenge.}

^{Ambassador Moiz Bokhari, Advisor to the OIC Secretary General, addressed the day-long Forum, and stressed that the OIC is gravely concerned at the mounting trend of intolerance and discrimination against Muslims. He emphasized that the causes of the rise of anti-Muslim discrimination and hatred in many parts of the world are manifold. They include the rise of xenophobic political discourse and movements, upsurge in the extremist ideologies and related terrorist attacks across the world, global migration crisis due to unresolved political issues, and promotion of negative stereotypes and misinformation against Muslims based on ignorance of Islam by various forms of media. He also recognized the need to counter all types of radical extremist discourse, including through education as well as the media and new communications technologies, particularly the Internet, in order to delegitimize the violent and manipulative acts committed in the name of religion, ideology or claim of cultural supremacy.}

^{Ambassador Bokhari also underscored that discrimination and hatred do not represent a threat to Muslims only, but it constitute a threat to the very principles of justice, equality, freedom and harmony. This brings out the need to address all forms of discrimination and hatred, in particular on the basis of religion or belief, by applying universal standards to provide equal protection to all targeted groups and religions, in all parts of the world. He pointed out that the OIC considers the UN HRC Resolution 16/18 titled “Combating intolerance, negative stereotyping, stigmatization, discrimination, incitement to violence and violence against persons based on religion or belief” an important tool to counter radicalization, marginalization and alienation, and calls for its effective implementation by the international community.}

^{In a video message for the High-Level forum, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that Anti-Muslim hate crimes and other forms of bigotry are on the rise. He urged people to see diversity as a richness and not as a threat.}

^{He announced that The United Nations is launching an effort to promote respect, safety and dignity for all called the “Together” campaign.}

^{New York, 18 January 2017}

^{Source: http://www.oic-oci.org/topic/?t_id=13046&t_ref=5725&lan=en}