A/HRC/46/30 agency, while Muslim men and those who look Muslim by virtue of their skin colour and facial hair, are deemed to be intrinsically violent.15 Others highlight that the possibility of converting away from Islam limits the relevance of the racism frame, while also noting that, in many contexts, religious bigotry based on essentialized depictions of Islam offers a shield for racist expressions. Some scholars contend that Islamophobia can exist in Muslim-majority States, where it becomes manifest in discourses and policies that treat Islam as unfit for inclusion in burgeoning democracies. 16 Moreover, many former Soviet States with Muslim majority populations criminalize expressions of Islamic faith and target individuals who appear Muslim. 17 Informing governmental and institutional policies, social discourse and violent practices against Muslims, this form of anti-Muslim bias in majority Muslim contexts institutes power hierarchies that are nonetheless driven by a different form of bias from the one examined herein. B. Dissemination of intolerant narratives Harmful stereotypes and tropes about Muslims and Islam are chronically reinforced by those working in the mainstream media, powerful politicians, influencers of popular culture and academics. Muslims are generally underrepresented and are often mispresented in the media. In one study, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) reported that in over 600,000 news items published in 2016 and 2017 in the Netherlands, the adjectives most used to describe Muslims were “radical”, “extremist” and “terrorist”; in contrast, people from the Netherlands were often described as “known”, “average” and “beautiful”. 18 Other studies have shown that media outlets in several countries disproportionately focus on negative angles for news stories involving Muslims19 such as reporting on their perceived failure to integrate,20 and more media attention is often paid to terrorist attacks committed by Muslims than to terrorist attacks committed by far-right extremists.21 Indeed, a study commissioned by the Federal Commission against Racism of Switzerland on the quality of media coverage of Swiss Muslims in 18 print media outlets between 2014 to 2017 found that reporting predominantly condemned a lack of will of Muslims to integrate, but only 2 per cent of reporting covered the daily life of Muslims or their successful integration in society.22 Conversely, many films depict Muslims negatively and play into harmful stereotypes, 23 with some even claiming that the “Muslim-as-terrorist” film has become a legitimate genre (or subgenre) in its own right.24 Despite an increasing number of positive depictions of Muslims in recent years, such depictions may justify discriminatory policies and Islamophobic sentiment by feeding a good versus bad Muslim binary.25 Various Western 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 www.worldcat.org/title/do-muslim-women-need-saving/oclc/828265187. See, e.g., www.worldcat.org/title/islamophobia-in-muslim-majority-societies/oclc/1076873408. See, e.g., A/HRC/37/49/Add.2, para. 47, and A/75/385. https://rm.coe.int/fifth-report-on-the-netherlands/168094c577, para. 34. See, e.g., Australia (https://onepathnetwork.com/islam-in-the-media-2017/); United Kingdom (www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/media-fuelling-rising-hostility-towards-muslims-in-britain; https://static1.squarespace.com/static/599c3d2febbd1a90cffdd8a9/t/5bfd1ea3352f531a6170ceee/1543 315109493/Islamophobia+Defined.pdf, pp.19–20); and United States (https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/report-muslims-most-negatively-portrayed-minority-in-usmedia/). See also https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1748048516656305. Submission by ECRI. Submission by Asociación Musulmana por los Derechos Humanos. www.mdpi.com/20771444/9/9/274/htm; https://cfmm.org.uk/resources/publication/cfmm-special-report-how-britishmedia-reports-terrorism/. https://rm.coe.int/ecri-report-on-switzerland-sixth-monitoring-cycle-/16809ce4bd, para. 32. www.worldcat.org/title/reel-inequality-hollywood-actors-andracism/oclc/948339407&referer=brief_results. https://journal.equinoxpub.com/CIS/article/view/9322, p. 219. https://popcollab.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/HaqqAndHollywood_Report.pdf, pp. 25–29. 5