Director steps down as Islamic Relief condemns breaches of code of conduct

Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) is firmly committed to its moral and religious standards of fairness and non-discrimination. Any form of hate by staff or trustees is intolerable.

We continue to work as an organisation to root out anyone that does not meet our core values as a respectful, and principled charity.  Regrettably one of our Directors has admitted to operating through an undisclosed social media account in which he posted anti-Semitic and other offensive and unacceptable comments in 2014.  He has resigned with immediate effect, accepting that he has let IRW down and fallen below our expected standards. He has also expressed his deep regret for any offence caused to the Jewish community and for causing harm to our organisation and its reputation.

Any hate speech, and within that any expression of anti-Semitism, is in violation of our code of conduct and against everything that Islamic Relief stands for.

Islamic Relief has established an Independent Commission, chaired by former UK Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC, to review our screening and vetting for all trustees and directors and also our code of conduct governing expected standards of behaviour. The Commission has now started work and is due to issue its findings in January. We have also initiated anti-Semitism awareness training, which our trustees, directors and senior management will participate in.

Islamic Relief is a purely humanitarian organisation with no political affiliations. We work to uphold the strictest humanitarian standards of neutrality, impartiality and independence, assisting people of all faiths and none, without discrimination by race, religion or gender. No external organisation influences let alone controls our organisation. We reject and condemn terrorism and believe that all forms of discrimination are unacceptable. These values are fundamental to our organisation, our donors and the people we serve.