Speech

Tolerance, non-discrimination and gender equality at OSCE Human Dimension meeting

Speaker
Sirpa Rautio
FRA’s Director delivers a keynote speech during the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting in Vienna on 24 June that focused on tolerance, non-discrimination and gender equality. The Maltese OSCE Chairpersonship and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) organised the meeting.

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Dear Ambassador Meli Daudey, Director Mecacci, Director Szczygiel, dear colleagues.

I am grateful for the invitation to address you here today; especially so, as I am aware of the close engagement which has existed between the OSCE, the Supplementary Human Dimension Meetings, ODIHR and the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights up until now. I took up my role of Director four months ago, and I look forward to continuing this engagement in the years to come.

I was also happy to accept this invitation given the subject of today’s discussion. Intolerance and discrimination continue to be daily realities in EU Member States, and for many, have worsened in recent years. Multiple and exacerbating influences such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the rise in the cost of living, and the Russian aggression in Ukraine have pushed those already in vulnerable circumstances further towards the margins. They have forced us further away from the EU’s ambition to create inclusive, equal and thriving societies.

We know this is true, thanks to the information we regularly collect and analyse. As part of its effort to promote and support evidence-based policymaking, FRA has, for more than 15 years, collected robust and EU-wide comparable data on experiences of discrimination faced by persons with different ethnic, religious or immigrant backgrounds, as well as by persons with disabilities, LGBTIQ people, and women and girls. Such evidence assists EU institutions and Member States in developing effective and rights-compliant policy.

Through this data collection and analysis, we see unequivocal instances of discrimination and intolerance. I would like to highlight some from FRA’s recent work, which are of particular relevance to today’s discussion, especially in respect of the compounding impact felt by women and girls.

Last month, FRA’s published the results of the third wave of its LGBTIQ survey. With over 100,000 respondents across EU Member States and observer countries, the comprehensive results showed that LGBTIQ people still experience hate-motivated violence and discrimination across the EU. While 37 % of overall LGBTIQ respondents felt discriminated against because of being LGBTIQ in the year preceding the survey, the rate is at 42 % for respondents who identify as lesbian.

Late last year, the agency published its second report on Being Black in the EU, based on data from the 2022 EU Survey on Immigrants and Descendants of Immigrants. 45% of respondents say they experienced racial discrimination in the 5 years before the survey, often when looking for work or accommodation. In some countries, this reached 70%. 24% say they experienced racist harassment; however, while the rate is at 22% for men, it is 27% for women. The gendered differences are particularly pronounced in the younger cohorts; there was a 9-percentage points difference between women and men among those aged 16-24. Every 10th woman of African descent who experienced racist harassment considered the most recent incident to be of a sexual nature, compared with 1 % of men. The gender difference also extends to employment and health; in several countries, the gap in the paid work rate between women and men exceeded 20 percentage points, and overall, fewer men than women reported having a long-standing illness or health problem.

Our research findings underscore the intersectional dimension of racism and discrimination operating on several grounds concurrently, including religion, racial or ethnic origin and gender. Muslim women and girls, especially those who manifest their faith publicly, are at particular risk of violence, abuse and exclusion from education, employment, sport and culture.

Data collected for FRA’s 2021 Opinion on the Equality in the EU, showed that women with disabilities are more likely than men with disabilities to experience discrimination on the grounds of disability in employment. Findings from the Fundamental Rights Survey show relatively high rates of age discrimination in employment for the general population, with women experiencing age discrimination in employment more often than men.

FRA’s report on online content moderation from November 2023, which presents the challenges in identifying and detecting online hate, shows stark results in respect of women and girls. Misogyny is the most prevalent form of online hate across all the platforms the report covered. Most posts including elements of incitement to violence are of a sexualised nature. Women are the dominant target group for hate; in some countries, the incidence of hatred targeted at women is more than double that of any other target group.

The evidence I have set out above has been acknowledged, and acted upon, by policy-makers in recent years. In 2020, the European Commission adopted the first EU anti-racism action plan, appointed a commissioner for equality and a coordinator on combating racism, and created the position of the coordinator on combating anti-Muslim hatred. In 2022, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on intersectional discrimination in the EU. Also in 2022, the Council adopted conclusions on combating racism and antisemitism, in which it invited Member States to develop a common methodology for quantifying and characterising racial and antisemitic incidents. In 2024, the Council adopted two directives aimed at strengthening the role of equality bodies across the EU, both of which aim to tackle various types of discrimination.

Despite efforts, our data and evidence repeatedly and consistently show that people across the EU experience discrimination on the grounds and in the areas of life listed in the Racial Equality Directive, the Employment Equality Directive and the Gender Equality Directives. This is the case despite the equality directives having been in force since 2000. This calls into question the effectiveness of the measures and institutional arrangements Member States have put in place to enforce non-discrimination legislation.

There are a number of measures which can be taken and reinforced by countries to improve the situation. These include:

  • developing and implementing an independent monitoring and accountability mechanism, complementing periodic implementation reports, to ensure the effective application and enforcement of EU anti-discrimination legislation and policy. In doing so, Member States should develop benchmarks, targets and indicators.
  • properly enforcing anti-discrimination legislation as well as effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions;  
  • identifying and recording hate crimes, and considering bias motivation as an aggravating circumstance when determining penalties; 
  • collecting equality data, including on ‘ethnic or racial origin’ to assess the situation and monitor progress;  
  • ensuring that equality bodies have the necessary mandates and resources to tackle discrimination and support victims; 
  • taking steps to prevent and eradicate discriminatory institutional practices and culture in policing, drawing on FRA’s guide on preventing unlawful profiling; 
  • adopting national anti-racism action plans, drawing on the guidelines and tools of the EU subgroup on the national implementation of the EU anti-racism action plan, and reporting regularly on their implementation.

To conclude: we continue to collect the data which help to highlight the challenges, and the lived experience to help paint the picture. We have a number of suggested ways forward, and measures we can use to improve the situation. Judging by the number of countries represented here today, we have the acknowledgement by governments that issues persist in achieving tolerance and non-discrimination in our societies. Though the reality for many remains bleak and the challenges seem daunting, I believe our cooperation, continued focus and dedicated efforts can lead to positive results and higher levels of trust and security in our societies.

Thank you.

See also