WSF Network and UK Programme Online Meeting - Addressing Islamophobia: Political Leadership, Legislative Action and Community Resilience, 25 June 2026
On 25 June 2026, members of Forward Thinking's Women for a Sustainable Future (WSF) Network and UK Programme convened online to share cross-regional lessons on tackling Islamophobia, anti-Muslim hatred, and structural racism. The roundtable was led by Amira Elghawaby, Canada's first Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia (2023–2026). It brought together parliamentarians, former parliamentarians, diplomats, government officials, representatives of multilateral organisations, legal experts, academics, and civil society leaders from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Egypt, the European Union, Iraq, Ireland, Kuwait, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and the UK.
The discussion opened against a backdrop of explicit anti-Muslim violence on the rise across many countries worldwide. Misinformation was identified as a key driver fuelling this hostility, which is increasingly moving from the margins into mainstream political discourse and online spaces.
As the first country to appoint a Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia, Canada offered a working model of what institutional response can look like: stronger hate crime reporting, public campaigns, better data collection, and the country's first national guide to understanding and combatting Islamophobia. Meaningful progress demands sustained institutional commitment, accountability mechanisms, and joined-up government action that breaks down the silos between security, social cohesion, and community inclusion agendas.
Key recommendations included: holding social media platforms accountable for failing to act on reported hate; shifting media coverage beyond crisis-only framing to recognise the everyday contributions of Muslim communities; collecting disaggregated data to evidence policy gaps; adopting clear, comprehensive definitions of Islamophobia to guide institutional responses; and investing in community-led initiatives, including arts and storytelling projects, to build cohesion and counter the dehumanisation driving hate.