Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois introduced legislation Thursday that would create a federal office to monitor “Islamophobia” and anti-Muslim bigotry around the world.
Omar hopes the office will help lawmakers understand the “interconnected, global problem of anti-Muslim bigotry.”
“The bill requires the State Department to create a Special Envoy for monitoring and combating Islamophobia, and include state-sponsored Islamophobic violence and impunity in the Department’s annual human rights reports,” Omar’s office said in a press release.
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Although Omar and Schakowsky’s proposal is aimed at international anti-Muslim bigotry, they both said it is a domestic problem, too.
“We are seeing a rise in Islamophobia in nearly every corner of the globe,” Omar said. “In my home state of Minnesota, vandals spray-painted hate messages and a Nazi swastika on and near the Moorhead Fargo Islamic Center.”
In the past year, roughly 500 complaints of anti-Muslim hate and bias have been documented in the U.S., according to the release.
Acts of discrimination and hate against the Islamic faith has reached “epidemic proportions,” according to a March U.N. Human Rights Council declaration.
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“As part of our commitment to international religious freedom and human rights, we must recognize Islamophobia and do all we can to eradicate it,” Omar said.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the proposed office would have the authority to monitor U.S. citizens
