An employee walks in front of ‘The Hive’, a 17 metre high, 40 tonne installation by British artist Wolfgang Buttress at Kew Gardens, in London. Composed of nearly 170,000 pieces of aluminium, The Hive was the centrepiece for the UK pavilion at the Milan Expo 2015 and has returned home to be installed at Kew.
Advocacy bodies fear that vague language could be used by institutions to sanction otherwise legal discussion.
BRITISH and Sikh groups have concerns after a proposed draft definition of anti-Muslim hostility being considered by the UK government was leaked to sections of the media.
“A central concern shared by Hindu, Sikh, Christian, secular, and free-speech organisations is that the definition fails to clearly distinguish between hostility towards Muslims as people and criticism of Islam as a belief system,” the Hindu Council UK said in its letter to the secretary of state in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
“The Hindu Council and many organisations have highlighted that definitions of this nature tend to be enforced not through courts but through institutional policies in universities, local councils, NHS, employers, and regulators where the threshold for sanction is often far lower than law requires.
“For minority communities such as Hindus and other Dharmic traditions, this presents a serious risk,” it states.
According to the draft proposal, the working group wants to define “anti-Muslim hostility” as engaging in or encouraging “criminal acts, including acts of violence, vandalism of property, and harassment and intimidation whether physical, verbal, written or electronically communicated, which is directed at Muslims or those perceived to be Muslims because of their religion, ethnicity or appearance.”
The draft adds: “It is also the prejudicial stereotyping and racialisation of Muslims, as part of a collective group with set characteristics, to stir up hatred against them, irrespective of their actual opinions, beliefs or actions as individuals.
“It is engaging in prohibited discrimination where the relevant conduct – including the creation or use of practices and biases within institutions – is intended to disadvantage Muslims in public and economic life.”
Hindu Council UK said it had carefully considered the wordings and while it “unequivocally condemns hatred, violence, intimidation, harassment, and unlawful discrimination against Muslims”, there is a “dangerous” ambiguity in the use of certain terminology in the proposed definition.
“By referring to ‘racialisation’ and ‘collective characteristics’, the definition risks treating a religion and its associated ideas, doctrines, and practices as if they were immune from critique... freedom of expression includes the right to offend, to challenge, and to criticise ideas, indeed Hinduism encourages intellectual debates that has made it robust,” it said. The government department declined comment on the recently leaked draft, stressing only that it is “tackling hatred and extremism wherever it may occur.”
“We will always defend freedom of speech, this remains at the front of our minds as we carefully consider the recommendations,” a ministry spokesperson said.
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