CORDOBA, June 10, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Fear and discrimination against Muslims have been on the rise in Europe since the September attacks on the United States, with many governments turning a blind eye to the problem, delegates told an international conference on racial and religious intolerance.

Speaking at the conference of the 55-country Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), held in the southern Spanish city of Cordoba, delegates highlighted that the so-called "war on terror" has tremendously fuelled bias against Muslims.

"Islamophobia is now becoming the central challenge of European countries in the field of discrimination and racism," Doudou Diene, the United Nations' Rapporteur on Racism and Xenophobia told Reuters Thursday, June 9.

Since the 9/11/2001 deadly attacks, assaults against Muslims and the Islamic places have been tremendously increasing in many European countries.

"Muslim communities have begun to be perceived in some Western countries as 'the enemy within', posing potential threats to the values of Western civilization," Turkish Minister of State Mehmet Aydin told the conference.

The meeting brought together representatives from Europe, North America and Central Asia to discuss the anti-Muslim and anti-Christian discrimination as well as the anti-Semitism.

The Vienna-based OSCE -- which groups countries from Europe, North America and the area of the former Soviet Union -– held the conference in Cordoba because of its heritage of religious tolerance under the Muslim rule from 711 to 1236.

It was the first time by the OSCE to discuss the issue of Islamophobia in its meeting which was mainly focused to discuss the anti-Semitism, which is also on the rise in Europe.

“Islamophobia has replaced anti-Semitism as the new sharp end of racist issues in the world wherever you go,” Abduljalil Sajid, adviser to the Commission on British Muslims, told the meeting, according to Reuters.

He added that a conclusion of an EU report revealed that "hatred against Muslims and crimes against Muslims increased tremendously" after the September 11 attacks, according to the Scotsman.

Sajid also criticized a draft final statement of the conference for not explicitly using the term Islamophobia, stressing that Europe has no choice but to face the reality that millions of its people are now Muslims.

“Muslims are not going anywhere. They are going to stay,” Sajid said.

A report revealed Monday, July 19, 2004, that more than nine out of 10 white Britons have no or hardly any Muslim or other ethnic minority friends, raising warnings against growing racial hatred and belief in racist propaganda.

British Muslims have repeatedly complained of maltreatment by the police and stop-and-search operations under the Terrorism Act for no apparent reason other than being Muslims.

The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference maintained that anti-Muslim hatred represents a new form of racism in Europe.

"The world is witnessing the birth of a new racism in Europe," Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said.

Saad Eddine Taib, an OIC delegate stressed that Islamophobia has historic roots but was clearly fuelled by the September 11 attacks.

“We are very worried,” said Taib, adding that September 11 was a crime, which Islam prohibits.

“For Muslims, 9/11 was a dark day in their history,” he said.

The final statement of the meeting, the "Cordoba Declaration", reiterated pledges to collect reliable information on racist crimes and called on member states to legislate against religious, ethnic and sexual discrimination and train their police to implement them.

But some delegates expressed frustration the OSCE failed to live up to promises made at a Berlin conference last year, amid signs discrimination and racism in Europe continued to rise.

"We need to do more to convert these sound words and goodwill to fight anti-Semitism and intolerance into action and its clear a number of states have just not taken that step," New York Governor George Pataki, head of the US delegation, told a news conference.

The OSCE has no powers to force member states to implement its recommendations, besides expelling a country from the group.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted Tuesday, April 12, a resolution calling for combating defamation campaigns against Islam and Muslims in the West.

A recent report released by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) said Muslim minorities across Europe have been experiencing growing distrust, hostility and discrimination since the 9/11/2001 attacks.

On January 13, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called for halting harassment and discrimination against Muslims, that have been on the rise in the West since the 9/11 attacks.

“Since the September 11 attacks on the United States, many Muslims, particularly in the West, have found themselves the objects of suspicion, harassment and discrimination,” Annan told the seminar on Confronting Islamophobia: Education for Tolerance and Understanding.