News

The sixth annual IHRC/SACC Islamophobia Conference will take place on Saturday with concurrent events in London and Glasgow. This year's conferences will focus on the relationship between Islamophobia and the widely-noted shrinkage of civil society space.

SACC is asking the Scottish Parliament's Cross Party Group on Tackling Islamophobia to look into the detention and questioning of Muslims at Scottish ports and airports under controversial UK anti-terror powers.

SACC supports the working definition of Islamophobia put forward by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims but cannot endorse the APPG report "Islamophobia Defined"

As organisations opposed to all forms of racism, we are dismayed that Stand Up to Racism Scotland will be allowing organisations that actively support Israeli apartheid and racism to participate in its annual anti-racism march in Glasgow. Under these circumstances we cannot support the march. 

We regret that this year we cannot support SUTR’s anti-racism march, to be held in Glasgow on 16 March, as we understand that it will include representation from Glasgow Friends of Israel (GFI) and the Confederation of Friends of Israel, Scotland (COFIS).

GMB Scotland have disciplined a shop steward as a result of his authorship of a petition that criticised Israel as racist and challenged the Labour Party's use of the controversial IHRA definition of anti-semitism

SACC/IHRC Conference sends a message of solidarity to the Kurdish community in Edinburgh following house raids and arrests.

SACC shares the distress of Sheku Bayoh's family at rumours that no charges will be brought against police officers involved in the events that led to Sheku's death. Now, more than ever, there needs to be a public inquiry

The Muslim Council of Scotland (MCS) has withdrawn from the anti-racism march in Glasgow on Saturday  over the organisers' failure to stand against Israeli apartheid and racism

The anti-racism demo in Glasgow in March 2017 was marred by the participation of a small number of supporters of The Confederation of Friends of Israel in Scotland (COFIS). COFIS works to close down public discussion of Israeli crimes. SACC is asking the organisers of the demo to tell COFIS that it isn't welcome this year.

Stand Up to Racism Scotland is asking for support for a "Football for All - No to Racism, No to Islamophobia!" unity event in Edinburgh on November 25th. The event is being called in response to a demo planned by the Football Lads Alliance (FLA) in Edinburgh on the same day. The FLA has a track record of attracting racist support.

Campaigners met with the Cabinet Secretary for Education, John Swinney, yesterday to urge the Scottish Government to take action to tackle Islamophobia in schools.

In the early hours of Wednesday 30th August 2017, police raided the homes of members of the Kurdish community living in Edinburgh, accusing them of having participated in terrorism activity on 26 March 2017. This was in fact a celebration of Newroz (the Kurdish New Year).

SACC has filed a submission to the Inquiry into Bullying and Harassment of  Children and Young People in Schools by the Scottish Parliament's Equalities and Human Rights Committee

SACC will on Friday 2 June launch a new report on experiences of Islamophobia amongst Muslim students at schools in Edinburgh.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd has acknowledged that the Prevent strategy is about intelligence-gathering. This has long been denied by officials.

Scottish charity Amina MWRC has recently acknowledged that it received Prevent funding in 2015 and has apologised for "any inconvenience and distress this has caused." It still has some way to go before it can be said to have earned the trust that it needs.

SACC is appalled by the chemical attack at Khan Sheikhoun on Tuesday and deplores last night's cruise missile strike by the US against a Syrian government airbase at Shayrat. These events risk escalating the Syrian conflict still further, with potentially calamitous consequences for the Syrian people and for regional and world peace.

The Scottish Information Commissioner has upheld the Scottish Government's refusal to name charities and NGOs that it is funding under the controversial Prevent strategy. SACC says that secrecy will damage the confidence of Scotland's minority communities

Statement on behalf of SACC by Richard Haley (Chair) in response to the murders outside the Westminster Parliament on Wednesday 22 March