ABSTRACT
The rise of human rights activism among European Muslims has a parallel movement in the Middle East and North Africa. Since the 'Arab Spring', the wave of pro-democracy protests that broke out across the Middle East and North Africa in 2011–2013, a growing number of Muslim women have articulated claims about gender equality in human rights terms. Radicalization has often been traced to social exclusion, poverty and the dislocations associated with globalization. Translation of claims into human rights language – even when they relate to religion-specific issues like Islamic schooling or religiously symbolic practices such as veiling – enables minority groups to overcome what they view as local prejudice by appealing to general principles enforceable across much wider geographical boundaries. The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), established in 1997 as an independent, non-profit-making organization based in London, has consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council and provides assistance for litigation against discrimination.
