Aussie Muslims Want Stricter Anti-Hate Laws
“We would like a clear message sent out that hate crimes are not OK and we would like to see stricter enforcement of the current laws,” Mohammed Yusuf, the president of Islamic Council of Queensland, told Guardian Australia.
“Labeling a declared area is likely to influence public opinion on people from that area. This request would offer a little bit of balance.”
Yusuf’s demands were part of a parliamentary submission made by more than 650 people or organizations, including the Islamic Council of Queensland and the Council of Imams of Queensland.
The submission underlines how the current debate has inflamed racial and religious tension, with Muslims the main target.
According to Yusuf, the aim behind the recommendation on tighter race hate laws was to send a clear message from government that hate crimes were unacceptable at a time when there has been an increased incidence of attacks on Muslims, particularly women.
The Muslims’ recommendations were made after attorney general, George Brandis, that the public would have a chance to comment on second tranche of national security legislation, commonly known as the foreign fighters bill.
The bill is currently examined by the joint committee on intelligence and security (JCIS).
“The groups of people who may be specifically impacted by these counter-terrorism proposals are currently likely to be Muslims and Russians/Ukrainians given the crisis in the Middle East and Russia/Ukraine respectively,” the submission says.
“This may be a different group in future generations. It is noted that while the government has gone to some length to show that the proposed laws are not targeting the Muslim community, the Murdoch press and other Australian media outlets have focused very strongly on Muslim groups and individuals.”
Erosion of Rights
Along with the Queensland community submission, another submission by Australian Muslim Advocates for the Rights of All Humanity (Amarah) describes “serious concerns that these laws may infringe on an individual’s human rights, civil liberties and freedom”.
“We write to you with serious concerns regarding the potential violations of human and civil rights and the ramifications that this may have on the community by way of targeted profiling,” the submission says.
“We are perplexed to understand as to why the existing legislation, which are comprehensive enough are being introduced when the various state and federal police commissioners have repeatedly stated that there is no imminent threat to Australians in Australia.”
The Queensland submission has raised concerns over many sections of the proposed foreign fighters bill.
For instance, it opposes outright the offence of entering a “declared area”, which would prohibit travel to conflict zones declared by the foreign minister.
Moreover, it urges a reduction in the proposed powers of custom detention times and the proposed 10-year sunset provisions on laws like preventative detention.
In its recommendations to combat race hate, the submission urges amendments to relevant legislation to “lower the threshold for arrest and increase the severity of punishment for criminals convicted of hate crimes and/or racial discrimination that:
“a) is either partially or wholly targeted at groups of people who may be specifically impacted by these counterterrorism proposals; or
“b) may be reasonably considered to have been influenced either partially or wholly by the introduction of these counterterrorism proposals.”
Muslims, who have been in Australia for more than 200 years, make up 1.7 percent of its 20-million population.
In post 9/11-era, Australian Muslims have been haunted with suspicion and have had their patriotism questioned.
The anti-Muslim sentiments further increased following last week’s anti-terror raids, deemed the biggest in Australian history, in which 15 people were arrested from north-western Sydney.
The raids were followed by a huge number of anti-Muslim attacks, including a mosque being defaced in Queensland and direct threats issued against the Grand Mufti of Australia.
Source: On Islam
