(Vienna) Discrimination in the search for employment or housing, arrests by the police, harassment: almost half of black people in the European Union say they face racism, according to a report made public on Wednesday .
“It is shocking to see no improvement since our last survey in 2016,” commented the director of the European Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) Michael O’Flaherty, quoted in a press release.
The situation has even deteriorated: 45% now say they have been victims of racism in the five years preceding the survey, compared to 39% previously.
In the meantime, the American Black Lives Matter movement has strengthened “community awareness,” Rossalina Latcheva, responsible for these issues at the FRA, an institution based in Vienna, Austria, explains to AFP.
She also evokes the rise of speeches “presenting migration as a threat”, deploring “their impact on the way in which black people are perceived” in society.
Nearly 6,800 immigrants of African descent – born in a sub-Saharan country or with at least one parent from this region of the world – were interviewed for this study between October 2021 and October 2022 in 13 EU countries .
The results are particularly “alarming” in Germany and Austria, where the percentage of those who say they are exposed to racism exceeds 70%.
The report notes glaring injustices in the world of work, with more than 30% of people reporting discrimination.
“It takes time to get a job,” explains Mme Latcheva, noting that “overqualified immigrants are not given their fair value”. The same goes for housing, “where the last name and the accent can represent an obstacle”.
As a result, a third “experience difficulty making ends meet”, compared to 18% of the general population.
The practice of racial profiling is also denounced, while 58% of respondents recently arrested by the police believe they have been targeted because of the color of their skin.
This leads to “a loss of confidence” in the police, particularly marked in France, a country singled out in recent years by international organizations for police violence.
Faced with this observation, the FRA expert calls on political decision-makers to “work with the police to improve training” and eradicate an entrenched culture.
She also urges Member States to “collect data” to better combat the phenomenon. And above all to apply “effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions” against the perpetrators of racist acts.
Today, only 9% report discrimination “because they think their words won’t change anything.”