Racism against black people has increased in the EU, says European report

Nearly half of black people living in the EU face racism in their daily lives, according to a study by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights* published on Wednesday October 25. The report, titled “Being black in the EU”, even shows that the phenomenon is increasing. In 2016, the date of the previous report, 39% of those questioned declared “having been victims of racism during the five [dernières] years”compared to 45% today.

“It is shocking to see no improvement since our last survey.”

Michael O’Flaherty, Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

in the report

This “discrimination remains invisible since only 9% report it”, continues the study, which notes that 30% of respondents say they have been victims of racist harassment and 31% of discrimination at work. Nearly 12% of those questioned said they had been arrested by the police in the year preceding the survey. Among the latter, 58% believe they have been victims of racial profiling, a practice frequently denounced by associations and organizations, particularly in France by the Defender of Rights.

A slight decline in France

The figures hide significant disparities between the thirteen European Union countries studied. Thus, 72% of black people in Austria and 76% in Germany say they have been victims of racism, compared to 56% in Belgium or 26% in Portugal. In France, this figure is 37%, down compared to 2016 (46%). On the other hand, 48% of those questioned have already suffered racial profiling from the police in France, a situation already denounced in May by the UN.

To combat the increase in racist discrimination, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights calls on member states to “properly apply anti-discrimination legislation”to develop “specific policies” but also to “collect data on equality, including on ethnic origin or racial”, a practice often debated, but prohibited in France. On the issue of racial profiling, the organization invites countries to “take steps to prevent and eradicate discriminatory police institutional practices and culture.”

The study by the Agency for Fundamental Rights in the European Union was carried out using a questionnaire, submitted in person or online, to almost 6,800 people of sub-Saharan African descent (or territories of overseas, in the case of France), between October 2021 and October 2022, in 13 countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. These countries were selected in particular because of the availability of previous data allowing comparison and because “most people from sub-Saharan Africa living in the EU live in these 13 countries”.