The International Day to Combat Islamophobia, established by the United Nations General Assembly under Resolution 76/254 on March 15, 2022, commemorates the victims of the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks in New Zealand.
This resolution was adopted by 60 member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), with 113 countries voting in favor and 44 abstaining. Subsequently, Resolution 78/264 was adopted on March 15, 2024, requesting the Secretary-General to appoint a UN Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia and to develop national legislative and policy frameworks to address this phenomenon.
The Syrian Future Movement views this growing international recognition as the culmination of joint international and Islamic efforts and evidence of the international community’s awareness that the fight against extremism cannot succeed if hate speech against Islam and Muslims is left unchecked.
The Syrian Future Movement affirms that extremism feeds on itself and draws strength from its own constituent elements. Islamophobia is not an isolated phenomenon; rather, it is fuel exploited to incite emotions and portray the conflict as a clash of civilizations.
In March 2025, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned of an “alarming rise in intolerance against Muslims” globally, noting that “online hate speech is fueling real-world violence.”
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk also revealed a 600% increase in Islamophobic incidents in some North American and European countries, particularly in the context of the aggression against Gaza.
The Syrian Future Movement cites reports from human rights organizations that have documented record levels of hate crimes against Muslims in multiple countries.
In the United States alone, CAIR received 8,658 complaints of anti-Muslim incidents in 2024, the highest number in the organization’s 30-year history, representing a 7.4% increase over 2023 and a 453% increase in hate crimes compared to 2022.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Ahmed Shahid, described Islamophobia as having reached “epidemic levels.”
The Syrian Future Movement bases its vision on the unique Syrian experience, in which Syrians have suffered for the past decade from the scourge of extremism in its two forms: the extremism of a sectarian, minority-based authoritarian regime that killed in the name of politics, and the extremism of terrorist groups that killed in the name of religion. We believe that restoring the Syrian model based on diversity and equal citizenship is the true guarantee for building the Syria of the future—a civil state governed by citizenship, not by extremist ideologies.
The Syrian Future Movement reiterates its call for strengthening international cooperation mechanisms to criminalize hate speech and religious incitement, and supports the efforts of the UN Special Envoy for Combating Islamophobia, Miguel Ángel Moratinos. We consider the integration of a new, free Syria into this international system a national and humanitarian duty.
Rebuilding a post-Assad Syria means not only reconstructing what the war destroyed, but also rebuilding the individual on the values of tolerance, dialogue, and respect for others.
