RacismtowardsBlackpeopleisgrowinginEurope, withGermany, Austria and Finland showing the highest rates of discrimination and harassment, a survey of first- and second- generationBlackimmigrantsin13EUcountriespublished on Wednesday found.
The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), which commissioned the survey and analyzed itsfindingsina report, said thatinthe space of six years since the previousstudythe proportion of respondents who had felt racially discriminated againstinthe past 12 months had risenby10 percentage points to 34 per cent.
InAustria andGermanythe proportion was 64 per cent – almost twice the previous level of 33 per centinGermanyand a significant increase from the 42 per cent recordedinAustria six years earlier. The next worst was Finland with 54 per cent.
“Itisshocking to see no improvement since our last survey,” FRA Director Michael O’Flaherty said. “Instead, people of African descent face ever more discrimination just because of the colour of their skin.”
The proportion of respondents who reported feeling racially discriminated against over the past five years rather than 12 months rose to 45% across the 13countriessurveyed, an increase of six points from the previousstudy. The top three were the same, withGermany’s rate the highest at 76 per cent.
The poll carried outbyIpsos for the FRA was a sweeping survey of 16,124 immigrants and descendants of immigrants across 15countriesfrom which several FRA reports will be produced – on other ethnic minorities and Muslims. It was conducted between October 2021 and September 2022.
This report, entitled “BeingBlackintheEU,”isthe first produced from that wider survey. It focuses on 6,752 people borninsub-Saharan Africa or with at least one parent born there livinginAustria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France,Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
The proportion of respondents who said they had suffered racist harassmentinthe past five years was unchanged from six years earlier at 30 per cent. The highest national rate was 54 per centinGermany, followedbyFinland and Austria.
Portugal and Sweden were thecountrieswith the lowest rates of harassment and, along with Poland, they had the lowest racial discrimination rates, according to respondents.
The FRA report included a series of recommendations forEUmember states such as properly enforcinganti-discrimination legislation and considering a motivation based on racial bias as an aggravating circumstance when setting penalties for crimes.
(Published 25 October 2023, 06:43 IST)