Muslims in Europe face discrimination -Amnesty

UK: European countries are discriminating against Muslims for demonstrating their faith, especially in the fields of education and employment, rights group Amnesty International said Tuesday.

In a report focusing on Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland, Amnesty urged European governments to do more to challenge negative stereotypes and prejudices against Islam.

The report was particularly critical of countries that have brought in outright bans on face-covering veils or on the wearing of religious symbols in schools.

"Rather than countering these prejudices, political parties and public officials are all too often pandering to them in their quest for votes," said Marco Perolini, Amnesty International's expert on discrimination. "Muslim women are being denied jobs and girls prevented from attending regular classes just because they wear traditional forms of dress, such as the headscarf.

"Men can be dismissed for wearing beards associated with Islam."

AFP