Muslim Youth and Women in the West: Source of Concern or Source of Hope?

Report of the conference organized by New York University Center for Dialogues: Islamic World-U.S.-The West at the Salzburg Global Seminar

Salzburg, Austria, May 15-17, 2007

Funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, the Danish Ministry of Refugee, Immigration, and Integration Affairs; The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Qatar Foundation; and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund

Director’s Preface

No rational mind can readily accept how a person could turn against a country that offered him or her residency or citizenship, when he or she was a refugee, a political exile, or simply a human being seeking a second chance in life.

The Madrid and London terrorist attacks of 2004 and 2005, respectively, put the issue of Muslim immigrants’ loyalty to their host countries in dramatic focus and highlighted the link between security and what is commonly called “integration.” Regrettably, the debate sparked by these tragedies was not always nourished by informed arguments, falling more often than not into simplification, if not sheer ignorance.

True to our mission to “knock down the walls of misunderstanding and replace them with bridges of knowledge and reason,” the NYU Center for Dialogues: Islamic World–U.S.–The West thought the time was right to convene a major conference on the basis of solid scholarship and with the participation of all concerned—youth and women activists and community leaders, religious leaders, policy makers, policy analysts, scholars, government officials, and media representatives—to address the issues surrounding the presence of large Muslim communities in the West.

With a substantial financial commitment from the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs and with additional funding from the Danish Ministry of Refugee, Immigration, and Integration Affairs; The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Qatar Foundation; and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, we began the preparations for the conference by bringing together a group of experts from both the United States and Europe. The group met a number of times throughout 2006 –2007 to chart a course for the conference that included the development of a background paper, an agenda, and a list of participants. I want to thank the following people for their magnificent contributions: LaRue Allen, Raymond and Rosalee Weiss Professor of Applied Psychology, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University; Sophie Body–Gendrot, director, Center for Urban Studies, the Sorbonne; Hassan Bousetta, research associate, Center for Ethnic and Migration Studies, University of Liège; Jocelyne Césari, director, Islam in the West Program, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University; Romain Garbaye, maˆitre de conférences, the Sorbonne; Nadia Hashmi, member, External Relations Team—EU Enlargement International Directorate, Home Office, United Kingdom; Jytte Klausen, professor of comparative politics, Brandeis University; Martin Schain, professor of politics, New York University; Vincent Tiberj, senior research fellow, Center for Political Research at Paris Institut des Sciences Politiques; and Catherine Wihtol de Wenden, director of research, Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Internationales, Center for Political Research at Paris Institut des Sciences Politiques.

I also seize the opportunity to reiterate my thanks to Dr. Ursula Plassnik, Austrian Federal Minister for European and nternational Affairs; Rikke Hvilsh¿j, Danish Minister of Refugee, Immigration, and Integration Affairs; Stephen Heinz, president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund; Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al–Missned, chairperson, Qatar Foundation for education, science and community development; and to their colleagues, as well as to all the governments that supported the conference.

Because the focus of the conference was to be on Muslim communities in Europe, it was natural that we would seek a European venue. The Salzburg Global Seminar welcomed us, and we could not have made a better decision than in forging a cooperative relationship with the Seminar and its leadership. My thanks go to my colleague from my United Nations days, Edward Mortimer, former director of communications and head of the Speechwriting Unit for the secretary–general at the United Nations, who now serves as senior vice president and chief program officer at the Salzburg Global Seminar, and to his staff, who spared no effort at making the conference’s logistical organization a full success.

The Center for Dialogues staff, particularly Shaanti Kapila, until recently assistant director, as well as Nyasa Hickey, program assistant, and Salimah Hadi, NYU intern, showed the utmost devotion, skills, and energy that earned them due admiration from the participants and other organizers. I am proud to have them as colleagues and I regret that after three years with the Center, Ms. Kapila has embarked on a new phase of her intellectual development. My staff and I wish her all the best.

As was the case during the Center for Dialogues’ previous international conferences, we sought to formulate implementable policy objectives that would contribute to lessening tensions and increasing chances for better understanding. The Salzburg conference followed the same course, thanks to the seriousness of purpose displayed by all participants without exception. Over the course of the three–day meeting—whether in the plenary or the working groups, over dinner and drinks, or at receptions hosted by Dr. Plassnik or Heinz Schaden, the mayor of Salzburg—participants debated, argued, and finally came up with a plan of action that is offered at the end of this report. Claudia Rivera–Bohn and Andrea Stanton, the Center for Dialogues’ editorial consultants, worked tirelessly to reflect the debate in their notes and initial draft of the report, and they also deserve our thanks.

In closing the conference, I thanked the participants for putting their minds to such difficult questions, which have a critical impact on both governments and civil society. I also stressed that a number of countries had been represented at the conference, including Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Tunisia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. I said that given the level of tension and uncertainties surrounding the Muslim world, I imagined that the recommendations issued by the diverse group of participants, in the form of a “plan of action,” would be taken quite seriously, and that the success of integration for Muslims in the West is everyone’s concern and everyone’s responsibility. It is my hope that governments—particularly European governments—as well as philanthropic foundations and concerned generous individuals would consider the plan of action developed by the Salzburg conference and would lend their support to help the Center for Dialogues achieve its implementation.