Raising Awareness for Minority Rights – How to pave a way from a regulatory framework to broad public support (with focus on the situation of Muslims in Austria/Europe) “States shall protect the existence of the National or Ethnic, Cultural, Religious and Linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity.” (Art. 1) The visibility of Muslims has become a big issue in Europe: the construction of Mosque minarets, the wearing of hijab are often put in a context as if these meant a threat against European identity. There has even been brought up a term to catch this feeling – „Islamization“– as if the visibility of Muslims meant an open sign of a „hidden agenda“ to overrule Europe. Reawakening old concepts of “the enemy”, populists stir up emotions against „the other“, aiming at strengthening a feeling of „That„s us! “ Backing up the own identity by restriction and discrimination of „the other“. Creating fear that „Muslims will overrule Europe. “ The case of Anders Breivik has opened many eyes how dangerous this kind of thinking may turn. In all these public debates, especially in the media, I have never come across a quotation of the „UN Declaration of the Rights of Persons belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities“. Isn‟t this very telling, somehow significant? Why isn‟t the text used in raising awareness? The beautiful visions expressed in the declaration – how strong do opinion leaders and politicians stand up for it? The challenges Muslims in Europe are facing enable us to draw some conclusions why the implementation of the declaration into the hearts of people is still difficult. - - - - Europe has no tradition in religious pluralism: „Cuius regio eius religio“. During centuries people of different faith, especially Protestants and Catholics used to live separately. When tolerance laws alleviated the situation, the visibility of the “dominating” church still remained over prominent. As in Austria, where Protestants were not allowed to build church towers or ring the bells for Sunday praying until the second half of the 19th century – a striking similarity to nowadays discussions concerning mosques in Europe. Nationalism is based on the construction of the one and unique national identity – with no room for multiple identities – a concept that is not resolved yet: The very protection of „identity“ of minorities as developed in the declaration would have been regarded as a threat against the national identity – and might have caused unwillingness to act. Minority rights are often linked with carrying the citizenship – and don’t agree with the perception of „foreigners“: Muslims in Europe are still seen as „guestworkers“, not belonging to the country, even if they carry the citizenship. That their religion has turned to be a part of the country is ignored. Again: Most likely this has to do with the general impression that being a Muslim doesn‟t seem to fit into the frame of national identity. By the way: That many Muslims form autochthon groups especially in Eastern Europe – is often ignored and again intensifies the image of “Islam as a non European religion”. Anti-religious attitudes gain more and more influence in European discourses: The phenomenon of a growing number of people who don‟t care about religion or even feel above such “anti-modern superstition” makes it difficult to raise awareness for freedom of religion. In the worst case this may have a negative impact on understanding Human Rights – classifying it as “less significant”. Current debates like on male circumcision as practiced in Judaism and Islam mirror this tendency. Former discussions where freedom of expression and freedom of religion seemed to be played off against each other go into the same direction.