GENEVA, Switzerland: The Helsinki International Federation of Human Rights said intolerance and discrimination towards Muslims has risen in Western Europe since the 11 September 2001 terror attacks in Washington and New York.
 
In a report the human rights group said: “As the perceived threat of religious extremism has been given wide attention in public debate, pre-existing prejudices and discrimination against Muslims have been reinforced.”
 
“Muslims have increasingly felt that they are viewed with distrust and hostility and that they are stigmatized because of their beliefs.”

The IFH groups 44 human rights organizations from the country members of the European Organization of Security and Cooperation.
 
IFH reported increases in verbal and physical attacks on Muslims and Muslim institutions and property, unbalanced and stereotypical media portrayals of Muslims as ‘aliens’ and an ‘enemy within’, discrimination in employment and aggressive political rhetoric by popular right-wing parties.
 
“No country has escaped this phenomenon,” said the IFH chairman Ulrich Fishcer, referring to the federations’ member countries i.e. Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain and Sweden.

According to the report it had become “more legitimate to openly express hostility against Muslims in the post-September 11 period, and it is now possible to publicly use intolerant language against Muslims in a way that was not previously acceptable.”
 
“It is only by scrupulously defending the rights of their Muslim minorities that the EU member states can retain the confidence of these minorities and fruitfully promote their integration in the long run,” the IFH said.

IFH says Europe has about 20 million people of Muslim origin with around five million in France, three million in Germany, 1.5 million in Britain. 

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