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Dear Michaela, dear Ambassadors, dear colleagues,
Many thanks to ZARA and the Embassies of Canada, Sweden and the Netherlands for the invitation to speak here today. Allow me to commend you on this event for two reasons. First of all, it is timely. This year, we celebrate 60 years of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Last week, we marked International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The day before that, as ZARA launched its annual Racism Report, I was in Brussels, listening to plans for the new Anti-Racism Strategy. We see an opportunity to grasp an element of momentum and build on it.
Secondly, I am impressed with the format of this event. I speak often of the fragmentation of human rights actors and efforts, and the damage that this can do to efficiency and impact. So many of us have the expertise, the opportunities and the ambition to affect change; however, the result of all that cannot be a duplication of work. A joint effort by civil society and governments is an initiative which should be applauded and promoted.
As we look forward, allow me to speak briefly about the foundations upon which we build. The adoption of the EU Anti-Racism Plan in 2020 and the appointments of the coordinators on combating racism and on combating anti-Muslim hatred were significant advancements in the right direction; we have been fortunate in our excellent relationships and cooperation with Michaela and Marion Lalisse.
The EU action plan against racism is a key initiative of the European Commission to step up the fight against racism and racial discrimination across the EU and beyond. It outlines a comprehensive framework for promoting non-discrimination, equality, diversity and pluralism in the EU Member States and sets out a range of measures to tackle racism in various areas, including law enforcement, education, employment, housing, and health.
However, despite commitments and ambitions, racism rages on in our societies. The Fundamental Rights Agency is the independent human rights agency of the European Union. We work closely with EU institutions and Member States, often providing expertise and evidence on fundamental-rights compliance, much of which we collect through large-scale, EU-wide surveys. This is the evidence which supports our position that societies are increasingly unsafe and inequal for many people.
Over the last 12 months, FRA has released a vast array of data and analysis, all signalling the inequalities, discrimination and racism experiences by millions across the European Union. FRA’s most recent data shows a worrying spike in racism and discrimination against people of African descent, Jews, Muslims, Roma and LGBTIQ people. Those communities who were considered the inspiration for all our equality strategies continue to suffer, to experience a lower quality of life than the general population, and ever more find themselves on the margins of society. Increasing divisions have been seen in the last two years in particular – both Muslim and Jewish communities have seen a rise in threats and harassment, resulting in feelings of fear, isolation and insecurity embedding themselves in our communities.
FRA's first Being Black in the EU report in 2018, which was based on data collected in 2016, exposed widespread and entrenched racism against people of African descent in Europe. Updated with new data from 2022, last year’s report revisits the situation, and exposes increased and persistent racial discrimination, harassment and violence. Almost half of people of African descent surveyed experienced racial discrimination in the five years preceding the survey, an increase from 39 % in 2016 to 45 % in 2022, reaching as high as 76%, depending on the Member State.
Yet, discrimination remains invisible as only 9% report it. The same trend remains with racist harassment: it is widespread and largely unreported. A third of people of African descent experienced it, yet 87 % did not report the most recent incident to any authority or service. Nearly half of these respondents felt that nothing would change if they reported the incident. Among those who did report, 76 % were unsatisfied with how their complaint was handled. Though shocking, this is not surprising. Experiences of racial discrimination and racist harassment and crime undermine trust in public institutions. The greatest negative effect we saw was on trust in the police, the legal system and local and municipal authorities. This is compounded by the data we gathered on people who believed they were the victim of racial profiling by police, which was explored further in our report last year on racism in policing, the first EU-wide report of its kind.
FRA’s report Being Muslim in the EU, which we published last October, built on data collected from 10,000 Muslims surveyed in 2022, shows that racism and discrimination are rife – almost to the point that they are normalised. Nobody is safe – Muslim men, women and children all have examples to offer, based in schools, workplaces, and on our streets. Their identity plays a role in whether they can access appropriate healthcare, accommodation and employment.
As well as the immediate emotional impact induced by racial discrimination, our findings also show that it can also manifest in compounding and continued difficulties for victims. Young Muslims are more likely to leave school early, hampering their employment opportunities later in life. High numbers of Muslims are in temporary, short-term jobs, which lack security and stability. On the other hand, those who are educated also have difficulties in finding suitable work, with many being overqualified for their jobs. A third of Muslims who are looking for a place to live struggle to find suitable homes for their families due to racial discrimination - a sharp increase from 2016. Where accommodation is found, often the conditions are sub-standard, leading to health conditions needing medical attention – an environment where Muslims also experience discrimination, as was also noted in ZARA’s annual report, published last week.
Much of the data I have mentioned so far relates to our surveys on immigrants and their descendants but FRA’s work on racism, discrimination and hateful rhetoric goes far beyond. Take, for instance, the Roma and Traveller community- the largest single minority on the European continent. In the EU alone, it comprises six million people, and it is a community pushed to the very edges of our society, by every imaginable measure and indicator, shoved to the very periphery in patterns of discrimination, harassment, and anti-Gypsyism.
I will also mention our work on antisemitism. Last year, in third iteration of our antisemitism survey, we found that half of respondents worried they would be the victim of verbal insults or harassment, and 44% feared they would be physically attacked. To attempt to prevent this, many Jews hide their identity at work, school or in public, and 40% have considered emigrating or had emigrated from their own country because of not feeling safe.
FRA’s work continues to illustrate the many examples of racism and discrimination, however, we are particularly concerned in respect of one such insidious manifestation; that is, the movement of hate online. For several years now, FRA has been working online content moderation and hate speech. One such report in 2023 shows that, while the emergence of online platforms and social media has transformed modern communication, so too has it amplified expressions of hate. We found that high levels of hate speech regularly slip through existent content moderation systems - most notably hate speech and harassment targeting women and ethnic minorities. Our own findings regarding the movement of hatred online speak to those published in ZARA’s annual report, in which 79% of racist incidences occurred online.
We continue to highlight challenges that are created through the use of new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence. The use of algorithms and AI can negatively impact on equality and non-discrimination. FRA’s report on bias in algorithms from 2022 shows that algorithms for hate speech detection are often biased against certain groups, such as Muslims and Jews. Much of the work done to produce this report, for example, tests we ran, convinced us that we cannot rely on technology to be trusted in the area of managing the hate speech space.
The establishment of a new EU legislature and the subsequent emergence of fresh priorities from the European Commission and Parliament offer us a rare opportunity to re-assess what is most important to our respective mandates and values. I think I can say that the failure to fully achieve the vision set out in the Union of Equality - to “build a continent where you can be who you are, love who you want, and aim as high as you want” – must determine our next steps:
To conclude – there are actors in many corners, ready to play their part, from the European Commission to Member States, to equality bodies and Ombuds institutes, to civil society, to my Agency. We have identified concrete measures, and put in place support to implement them. However, with so many competing inequalities and discriminations – not to mention shifting priorities towards security and defence - it can sometimes feel as though our efforts are stretched, fragmented and diluted. We need a reinforced plan, not just to tackle the problems faced by pockets of our societies, but to look holistically and intersectionally at drivers of and solutions to pervasive racism and discrimination.
I assure you that FRA will stay a reliable partner going forward, not least of all with our relevant upcoming work, which includes the update of the Anti-Muslim Hatred online database in 2025, and follow-up to our own findings at the Member State level with national partners. I also promise to remain a close and supportive ally to all who work on these issues, including the EU Institutions, EU coordinators on combatting antisemitism, racism and anti-Muslim hatred, the Member States, the civil society.
Thank you.