Racism & related intolerances

Despite a number of legal instruments that offer protection against racism and related forms of intolerance, ethnic and religious minorities across the EU continue to face racism, discrimination, verbal and physical violence, and exclusion.

For policy makers to take considered decisions on means to combat racism, they need information from the ground in addition to their knowledge of international and European legislation. FRA research provides evidence of racism and related intolerances, as well as the unequal treatment of ethnic minorities, while the agency’s studies also supply information about the fight against discrimination in key areas of social life.

All EU member states have accepted the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). They are therefore obliged to prevent, prohibit and eradicate all forms of racial discrimination and incitement to racial hatred.

The EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, ethnic origin and religion or belief. The EU has passed detailed legislation that addresses discrimination in various areas of life. Member states are also bound to combat public incitement to violence and hatred against people of different race, colour, religion, or national or ethnic descent by means of criminal law.

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21/03/2013

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: Austerity is no excuse for racism

The social fallout from the ongoing global economic crisis must not become an excuse to allow racism and prejudice to go unchecked, said Morten Kjaerum, Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), and Eva Smith Asmussen, Chair of the Council of Europe's European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), in a joint statement to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
29/11/2012

FRA presents hate crime reports at the European Parliament

The FRA presented on 29 November its two recent reports on hate crime and on minorities as victims of crime. This presentation was given as part of the fundamental rights exhibition at the European Parliament and was followed by a panel debate organised in partnership with the European Parliament’s Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup (ARDI).

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Status: 
Findings available

Handbook on European non-discrimination law

Applying non-discrimination law and facilitating access to justice In this project, the FRA and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) develop a common handbook ...
Status: 
Findings available

Multiple discrimination in healthcare

In 2010 and 2011, the Fundamental Rights Agency will undertake for the first time in-depth research looking at forms of discrimination that have been relatively little studied so far: ‘multiple' and ‘intersectional' discrimination.

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March
2013

Inequalities and multiple discrimination in access to and quality of healthcare

Report
Certain people are seen as particularly vulnerable to unequal treatment, because they share a combination of characteristics that may trigger discrimination. A Roma woman sterilised without her informed consent, for example, has suffered discrimination not just because of her sex, as all women do not face this treatment, nor just because she is Roma, as Roma men may not face this treatment. The discriminatory treatment is based specifically on the intersection of her sex and ethnic origin.