Most Anti-Muslim Attacks in France Against Women
The commissioner, who produced the report after visiting France in September last year, warned of increasing attacks directed at Muslims and said that there should be more efforts to integrate and care for immigrants and asylum seekers.
Attacks on Muslims have been on the rise in France since the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January.
Earlier this month the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) published data that showed that between the Charlie Hebdo attacks on 7th January and the end of that month there were 147 ‘acts’ carried out against Muslims.
In the week following the attacks the CFCM reported that 26 separate mosques had been attacked across the country. In some cases the buildings were firebombed and in other grenades were thrown.
Fiyaz Mughal, the director of UK-based interfaith thinktank Faith Matters said that the term ‘acts’ covers a huge range of hostile actions, Newsweek reported.
He said they have received complaints from Muslim women.
On why he believes Muslim women might face more abuse than their male counterparts, Mughal says: “All our data... shows that visible women are the ones that are targeted at a street level. This means that women who wear the hijab are the ones that are sometimes targeted for abuse ….”
He also believes that there is a gender imbalance in terms of anti-Muslim hate at a street level, saying that victim data shows that perpetrators are usually male and aged between 15-35, while their victims are mostly women and aged between 15-45.
