Islamophobia in Australia

04/12/2019

Papers to note

There is ample evidence that discrimination, harassment, attacks and assaults motivated by prejudice and hate are under-reported. This is part of the reason why the recent publication of Islamophobia in Australia - II (2016-2017), edited by Dr Derya Iner as chief investigator, is so important. While still likely representing only the tip of the iceberg, it sheds some light on the extent and impact of hate-fuelled conduct which is motivated by Islamophobia.

The statistics in the report are contextualised within the framework of hate, or bias, crime more broadly through a chapter by Gail Mason and Nicole Asquith. The most common category of such crime in NSW (44%) is motivated by religion, and 73% of such offences are against Muslim victims. Islamophobic attacks are, thus, among the most numerous instances of hate, or bias, crime. This is another reason why the report is important.

The report concerns 349 verified incidents reported over a two year period. Some key statistics include: 72% of victims are women (and women are more likely to be targeted when visibly Muslim, e.g. wearing a hijab or other head covering), while 71% of perpetrators are men. Perpetrators were often Anglo-Celtic (where their ethnic background was known). Those targeted are often younger (72% were in the 20-39 age bracket, and 14% of cases involved children, whether with or without adults), with perpetrators often older (49% were in the 40-49 age bracket). And "[w]omen in some cases projected multiple vulnerabilities, such as being identifiably Muslim with their hijab, travelling unaccompanied, pregnant and accompanying younger children at the same time". All of this tends to demonstrate that the horrific assault of a pregnant woman which was so widely reported recently is far from an isolated incident but, instead, the extreme end of a spectrum of behaviour which commonly confronts visibly Muslim people, especially women. The data suggest there is some way to go to address this. But, as Mason and Asquith observe, collection and analysis of data of this kind permits the development of better policy, including "effective victim support and prevention strategies