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SearchToday in Islamophobia: As human rights organizations declare China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang province a genocide, H&M announces it is ending an “indirect” relationship with a supplier in China in light of allegations of “forced labor” within the supply chain. Writing for The Print, Yogendra Yagav explores what the arrest of an Indian activist means for a “generation of Indian Muslims.” Our recommended read today is from Germany, where twenty-nice police officers have been suspended for sharing neo-Nazi images. This, and more, below:
Germany
Germany far right: Police suspended for sharing neo-Nazi images | Recommended Read
Twenty-nine German police officers have been suspended for sharing pictures of Adolf Hitler and depictions of refugees in gas chambers on their phones. The officers also used far-right chatrooms where swastikas and other Nazi symbols were shared, officials in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) said. NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul said it was a "disgrace for NRW police". It follows several other incidences of far-right extremism among the German security services. More than 200 police officers were involved in raids on 34 police stations and private homes linked to 11 main suspects. The officers are said to have shared more than 100 neo-Nazi images in WhatsApp groups. read the complete article
International
H&M to end 'indirect' relationship with Chinese supplier amid 'forced labour' allegations
H&M has said it is ending an “indirect” relationship with a supplier in China in light of allegations of “forced labour” within the supply chain. Earlier this year, it was reported that the UK government was being urged by lawyers and a human rights group to ban the import of cotton sourced from the Chinese province of Xinjiang. The 60-page document submitted to HM Revenue and Customs detailed the “overwhelming and credible evidence concerning the scale and gravity of the forced labour regime in Xinjiang”, where Uighur Muslims are being put to work in factories. read the complete article
The international community must do more to support Afghan and Rohingya refugees amid the COVID-19 pandemic
While the refugee crises created by the conflict in Afghanistan and the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas in Myanmar may appear to be disconnected, they are both part of a major migration upheaval in South Asia that the COVID-19 pandemic has only complicated. Already living on the margins of society, Afghan and Rohingya refugees have been hit particularly hard by COVID-19. Host countries and the international community need to do more to help alleviate the unique challenges that the pandemic has caused for both of these populations. read the complete article
Rights groups pen letter declaring Uighur genocide in China
Human rights organizations signed an open letter Tuesday declaring China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang province a genocide. The letter cited a November 2019 UN report that raised concerns over “increasing practices of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, absence of judicial oversight and procedural safeguards … within an increasingly securitized environment, particularly for designated minorities, notably Uyghurs.” read the complete article
United States
CW: Suicide | Family of bullied Muslim teen sues Minnesota school district, two years after his suicide
Jacob LeTourneau-Elsharkawy’s classmates bullied him at Chisago Lakes Middle School. They would call him a “terrorist” and “bomber man”; they would mock him because his mother wore a hijab and his stepfather was Egyptian. Jacob’s mental health started to deteriorate around eighth grade, especially after school administrators failed to address his bullies, his mother, Faith Elsharkawy, said. Jacob entered elementary school as a student identified with special needs. Later, Jacob was diagnosed with anxiety, ADHD, and learning disabilities. Classmates bullied him for that, too. read the complete article
I’m a Muslim and Arab American. Will I Ever Be an Equal Citizen?
“Go back home!” the note said. The sentiment wasn’t new to me. I’d heard it before, and not just from online trolls who believed they had the supreme right to decide who belongs in the United States. Last year, I recoiled in alarm when I watched footage of a protester in the crowd outside a Border Patrol facility in Clint, Texas, yelling at Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan to go back to her country. Tlaib was part of a congressional delegation visiting the detention facility to learn more about the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers under the Trump administration’s family-separation policy. When the representative came out to speak with reporters, someone shouted at her, “We don’t want Muslims here!” That same xenophobic impulse finds its voice each time the president fires another salvo in his ongoing conflict with Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. In the last few months, he has called her “a horrible woman who hates our country” and a “hate-filled, America-bashing socialist.” read the complete article
Ilhan Omar interview: Trump is a racist tyrant — but America is strong enough to survive his presidency
In normal times, Ilhan Omar would be spoken about in a different way. At 37, she is a progressive star with an inspirational story, a young and charismatic congresswoman and national political figure in her own right. But these are not normal times, and with things being as they are, it is hard to tell her story without also talking about the president of the United States, Donald Trump – a man with whom she shares virtually no attributes, but whose story is nonetheless connected to her own. read the complete article
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Nine Serbs held over 1992 Bosnia killings of Muslims
Bosnian police arrested nine ethnic Serbs on Wednesday suspected of taking part in the killings of 44 Muslim civilians in a village at the start of the 1990s war, prosecutors said. The nine men, mostly former soldiers and two police commanders, are suspected of having "planned, organised and taken part" in the killings and persecution of Muslim civilians in the area of Sokolac in eastern Bosnia in September 1992, a prosecutors' statement said. read the complete article
Myanmar
Myanmar army probes 'wider patterns' of abuse against Rohingya
The Myanmar military has said it is investigating “possible wider patterns of violations” before and during a 2017 crackdown in Rakhine State that the United Nations has said was executed with genocidal intent against Rohingya Muslims. More than 730,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh that year following the launch of a sweeping security campaign that refugees said included mass killing, gang-rape and arson. The army has denied genocide, saying it was carrying out a legitimate operation against Rohingya militants, but says it has court-martialed some troops over incidents in certain villages though details on the perpetrators, their crimes, and sentences have not been released. read the complete article