As a variety of different problems need to be addressed in the country like the border crisis, inflation, and skyrocketing crime, yet the House of Representatives yesterday passed the “Combating International Islamophobia Act.”
The measure is sponsored by U.S. House Rep Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and would create an office within the U.S. State Department tasked with monitoring and reporting on violence, harassment and abuse against Muslim people, schools and religious centers.
The office would also report on “hateful incitement” against Muslim people in state-sponsored and independent media, as well as the existence of Muslim-targeting labor, reeducation and concentration camps, and explicitly named the camps targeting Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang region.
In a 219-212 vote, the bill passed the House and now heads to the Senate, where U.S. Sens Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Ben Cardin (D-MD), both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have introduced the same act as a senate companion.
On the floor of the house during debate on the bill, Omar told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that “We are in the midst of a staggering rise of anti-Muslim violence and discrimination around the world.”
“As a country that was founded on religious liberty, our leadership on international religious freedom depends on recognizing that Islamophobia is global in scope, and that we must lead the global effort to address it,” Omar declared.
Republican opponents to the bill argued on the House floor against it based on a technical matter many felt created a larger problem: the text doesn’t define “Islamophobia” and thus would elevate Islam above criticism.
In a tweet celebrating the move today, Omar asserted, “We’re one step closer to ensuring we have the resources needed to defend human rights and stop anti-Muslim hate worldwide.”
Yesterday, the House passed our Combating International Islamophobia Act.
— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) December 15, 2021
We’re one step closer to ensuring we have the resources needed to defend human rights and stop anti-Muslim hate worldwide.
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