Purpose:
The City Council of Barcelona adopted a plan to prevent hate crimes, raise awareness and provide victim support services. The Plan aims at raising awareness on Islamophobia as a serious form of discrimination and recognising the religious, political and cultural diversity of the municipality. It contains measures to prevent discrimination against Muslims or people perceived as Muslims and to ensure the right to equality and non-discrimination.
Stimulus/Rationale:
The Plan to combat Islamophobia is a pioneering municipal government measure in the Spanish state. It was approved in January 2017.
In the province of Barcelona, reported hate crimes rose by 19% in 2015, compared to 2014, and 40% compared to 2013. Girls who are rejected by their social environment when they decide to wear a veil, difficulties in opening prayer centres, insults on public transport, bearded young men who can’t find university work placements and so on. These are the most common cases of discrimination and Islamophobia in Barcelona.
Generally it’s not an issue of physical aggression, although there are some cases, and so the main objectives of this plan revolve around prevention, awareness and backing for interculturality and social cohesion.
Process:
The document has been discussed and agreed upon in a process involving eighty people, including human rights and discrimination experts, specialised municipal staff, social entities and organisations from the Muslim community.
The plan, which sets out 28 measures and has a budget of over 100,000 euros, aims to support the most vulnerable victims: women.
The Office for Non-Discrimination (OND) will become the main service run by City Council for citizens and organisations to document, receive information, training and advice on hate crimes and hate discourse. The municipal service will collate data in order to provide a better snapshot of the situation in the city, as well as activating mechanisms for officially reporting hate crime and hate speech and litigating in significant cases if necessary.
Impact:
Awareness has been raised on Islamophobia as a form of discrimination. This have been done through communication campaigns, conferences, publication of guides to inform on Islamophobic crimes and speeches, etc.
Data-gathering on Islamophobic discrimination has improved. The Barcelona Discrimination Observatory includes data on religious discrimination, and counts on the Observatory of Islamophobia in Catalonia as a Board member of the Observatory. Just to provide an example, in 2022, there were 18 cases of Islamophobia, 13 of which were reported by the Observatory of Islamophobia in Catalonia and nine of which were related to the use of the hijab.
Improved competencies of the municipal staff (including the Police) on the identification of Islamophobic behaviours.
In addition, City Police’s Action regulations have been updated for preventing and avoiding discriminatory attitudes. And the Office for Non Discrimination provides special legal advice on Islamophobia.
Last, there has been an improvement in the coordination between players and institutions protecting rights and fighting against hate crimes and discrimination. The fight against Islamophobia has been mainstreamed by using networks and spaces already present in the city, such as the Anti-Rumours Network, Schools and worship centres.
Key reference documents:
