Organization profile

Overview:

AMDEH is a Spanish legal entity, duly registered in January 2019 (G-88230545) and created in September 2018 by Muslim activists and academics who had previously volunteered or worked for other civil society organizations in similar fields.

Expertise: human rights and anti-Muslim hatred; securitization policies (impact and approaches on Muslim communities); hate crimes, hate speech and discrimination, Spanish legislation related to Muslim populations, etc. 

Its main mission consists of the promotion of human rights for Muslim individuals and communities in Spain, mostly through advocacy, production and dissemination of awareness material, research and translation activities, as well as through workshops and cooperation with local, national and international institutions.

Organization:

The Asociación Musulmana por los Derechos Humanos – AMDEH (Muslim Association for Human Rights) is a national non-profit organization based in Madrid, established in September 2018 and duly registered under Organic Law 1/2002 in January 2019.

It is a project undertaken mostly by Muslim activists who did not feel represented in other organizations where they volunteered previously and still wanted to promote the values of peace, coexistence, tolerance, solidarity and respect for human rights, all of them part of Islamic ethics, for Muslim communities and individuals.

The Association aims to achieve those ends by raising awareness and fighting discrimination, whatever form it takes, be it daily discrimination, or speech or hate crimes of an Islamophobic, xenophobic, homophobic character, etc.; as well as acting against any type of violation of human rights that affects Muslim people and communities or other entities, activists and environments related to those fields in the Spanish State.

We establish ties between people of diverse cultural origins and with different religious and spiritual paths, since we consider that the plurality in life enriches our societies, by participating in coalitions such as the Asamblea Antirracista de Madrid (Antiracist Assembly of Madrid), where we intersect and collaborate with other minorities, as well as the Euroean Forum of Muslim Women (EFOMW), the European Network of Women of African Descent (ENWAD) and the European Network against Racism.

Activities:

1. Advocacy, promotion and awareness of human rights: promotion of human rights through campaigns on social networks, workshops in schools, universities, etc.

2. Promotion and awareness of legislative resources: promotion and dissemination of resources through the knowledge of the current legislation related to the Muslim communities within the Spanish state.

3. Collaboration with International Organizations:

a) Collaboration for advocacy and training purposes as a civil society organization with the Council of Europe (Department for the prevention of anti-Muslim hatred) and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE -OIDHR), in the interest of the effectiveness of civil and human rights of the people and Muslim communities of the Spanish State in the face of anti-Muslim hate crimes and discrimination.

b) Yearly monitoring for the anti-Muslim hate crime data base of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe OSCE-ODIHR.

4. Collaboration with social, antiracist and religious entities at national and international level.

5. Collaboration with local institutions: collaboration with local authorities and municipalities on discrimination and hate crimes, such as the Madrid police hate crimes unit or the Ministry of Equality.

6. Countering misinformation and exposing the impact, threats and human rights violations through security policies of Muslim individuals and communities through research, analysis, and translation.

7. Securitization research project: “The Impact of Securitization on Muslims in Spain” (2019-2021).

Structure:

  • Directive Board: President, Secretary, Treasurer and two Vocals.
  • Delegates/Representatives: one in Madrid, one in Catalonia and one in Melilla. The aim of the Representatives is to be involved in local associative movements and initiatives as well as in local institutional relations (such as Local Police Forces, local city councils, etc.).

For further information, please contact amderechoshumanos@gmail.com.