EIR 2024

We are pleased to present the tenth edition of the European Islamophobia Report (EIR 2024), marking a decade of systematic and independent research on anti-Muslim racism across Europe. Since its first publication in 2015, the EIR has become one of the most authoritative reference works for understanding how Islamophobia operates as a structural and political phenomenon, shaping public discourse, policy frameworks, and institutional practices across the continent. Over the past ten years, the report has documented patterns that were once denied or dismissed—revealing Islamophobia not as an episodic problem, but as a persistent and evolving form of racism embedded in European societies.

This tenth anniversary is both a milestone and a warning. While the continuity of the report reflects sustained scholarly commitment, the findings of EIR 2024 paint a deeply alarming picture. Anti-Muslim racism has not diminished; rather, it has intensified and normalized across nearly all domains of public life. What is particularly striking in 2024 is the extent to which Islamophobic narratives now inform policymaking, legitimize exceptional security measures, shape media framing, and erode democratic norms. Muslims are increasingly governed through suspicion, securitization, and exclusion, with far-reaching consequences for fundamental rights.

The war on Gaza constituted the central political and discursive context shaping Islamophobia throughout 2024. Across Europe, governments largely failed to uphold international legal principles or condemn mass civilian casualties. Instead, many states criminalized pro-Palestinian demonstrations, imposed protest bans, and subjected activist – disproportionately Muslims –  to surveillance, intimidation, and prosecution. Public debate became highly polarized, with Muslim voices frequently delegitimized or framed as inherently suspect. Events such as the Amsterdam riots illustrated how misleading political narratives were amplified by mainstream media and instrumentalized to conflate pro-Palestinian solidarity with extremism, reinforcing a climate of fear and repression.

State institutions played a decisive role in entrenching Islamophobia. In France, administrative control measures under the MICAS framework expanded dramatically, disproportionately targeting Muslim families and religious leaders. Germany combined unwavering political support for Israel with increasingly restrictive migration and policing regimes. Denmark weaponized the concept of “brotherism” to justify intrusive monitoring of Muslim civil society, while its controversial “Ghetto Law,” currently under review by the Court of Justice of the European Union, exposed how racialized categories such as “non-Western” function as proxies for targeting Muslims.

Key findings of the European Islamophobia Report 2024 include:

• Rising discrimination: According to the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), 47% of Muslims experienced discrimination in the past five years, up from 39% in 2016. Muslim women, especially those wearing religious attire, face the highest levels of exclusion.
• Surge in hate crimes: The UK’s monitoring organization Tell MAMA recorded its highest number of anti-Muslim incidents since monitoring began. Similar increases were reported across multiple European states.
• Normalization of far-right narratives: Far-right parties strengthened their political influence in countries including Austria and the Netherlands, while mainstream actors increasingly adopted exclusionary rhetoric on migration, security, and national identity.
• Media-driven stigmatization: Systematic negative portrayals of Muslims across major European media outlets reinforced public fear and legitimized discriminatory policies.
• Education under pressure: Hijab and abaya bans expanded in France, Italy, Denmark, and parts of Russia, while Muslim students reported growing harassment and restrictions on academic freedom, particularly regarding Palestine-related speech.

EIR 2024 concludes with urgent recommendations: European governments must formally recognize anti-Muslim racism within National Action Plans against Racism, review counterterrorism frameworks that disproportionately target Muslims, defend freedom of expression and assembly, fully implement ECRI General Policy Recommendation No. 5, and strengthen civil society coalitions through funding and cooperation.

After ten years of documentation, the message of the European Islamophobia Report is unequivocal: without sustained, coordinated, and rights-based action, anti-Muslim racism will continue to undermine democracy, equality, and social cohesion across Europe.

For more information or to access the full report, please visit:

www.islamophobiareport.com (EIR 2024 will be available on 19.12.2025)

Editors: 

Prof. Enes Bayraklı (Turkish-German University) 

Prof. Farid Hafez (Georgetown University)