US House green lights State Dept office looking into anti-Muslim bias
The bill – whose passage through the Senate is unlikely – would create a special envoy for monitoring and combatting anti-Muslim bias worldwide and include state-sponsored anti-Muslim violence in the State Department's annual human rights reports.
US House Representative Ilhan Omar called for House leaders to take action” over Republican Lauren Boebert ’s using of anti-Muslim language.
The US House of Representatives has voted to approve a Democratic proposal for a State Department office to address anti-Muslim bias, after a Republican congresswoman used a slur against a Democratic colleague.
The bill that was passed on Tuesday, authored by Representative Ilhan Omar, would create a special envoy for monitoring and combating anti-Muslim bias and include state-sponsored anti-Muslim violence in the department's annual human rights reports.
"We are in the midst of a staggering rise of anti-Muslim violence and discrimination around the world," Omar said on the House floor.
"Islamophobia is global in scope and we must lead the global effort to address it," she added.
The House backed the bill, titled the ‘‘Combating International Islamophobia Act", in a party-line vote of 219-212.
The office would monitor and combat "acts of Islamophobia and Islamophobic incitement that occur in foreign countries" by noting instances of violence and harassment against Muslim people and community institutions.
It will also take note of propaganda in media that "attempt to justify or promote racial hatred or incite acts of violence against Muslim people".
Anti-Muslim rhetoric from Republican lawmaker
The House vote comes a few weeks after video emerged showing first-term Republican lawmaker Lauren Boebert calling Omar, a Muslim second-term congresswoman who was born in Somalia, a member of a "jihad squad."
That comment led to calls by Democrats for a vote to strip Boebert of her committee assignments, as well as criticism by fellow Republican Representative Nancy Mace.
READ MORE: Through the eyes of a US Marine: Being a Muslim after 9/11
'Rushed, partisan'
Republicans have decried the bill, calling it rushed and partisan.
Debate on the bill stalled for about an hour after Republican congressman Scott Perry accused Omar of being anti-Semitic and affiliated with terrorist organisations. The House chair ruled Perry's words on the House floor impugned Omar's reputation and were inappropriate.
Aides for Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer did not respond to requests for comment about the bill.
Its fate in that chamber is unlikely.
READ MORE: A growing alliance of Islamophobes looks to lobby governments
Copyright © 2024 TRT World.