Equality

Equality, non-discrimination and racism

Equality is a core value of the EU. You have the right to fair treatment regardless of who you are, what you believe, or how you chose to live.

We carry out research and share expertise to help fight discrimination, inequality and racism in all its forms.

Highlights

  • Report / Paper / Summary
    11
    July
    2024
    Antisemitism is still a reality for many Jewish people in the EU today. Faced with prejudice and hostility, most feel unable to live openly Jewish lives. This report presents the results of FRA’s third EU survey of Jewish people’s experiences and perceptions of antisemitism. The survey took place before the Hamas attacks in October 2023 and the war in Gaza; however, it includes evidence from a consultation with national and European Jewish umbrella organisations since. It covers 13 EU Member States that together account for around 96 % of the EU’s Jewish population.
  • Report / Paper / Summary
    14
    May
    2024
    FRA’s third LGBTIQ survey shows that people still experience hate-motivated violence and discrimination. Trans and intersex people face even greater victimisation. Yet, signs of progress show that the EU’s and Member States’ efforts can positively affect people’s lives. More LGBTIQ people are open about their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics.
  • Report / Paper / Summary
    10
    April
    2024
    Racism in the police can include discriminatory racial profiling practices through to excessive use of force. Incidents like these highlight deeper systemic issues that need addressing. Many in society are affected by racism in policing, not only the individuals or communities targeted. Lack of trust in policing can fuel social exclusion and damages the foundations of a fair and equal society, however promising practices are developing to address these issues. This is the first EU-wide report on racism in policing. FRA’s findings identify gaps in regulatory frameworks and propose concrete steps for action.
  • Report / Paper / Summary
    25
    October
    2023
    FRA's first Being Black in the EU report exposed widespread and entrenched racism against people of African descent in Europe. Now updated with new data, this report revisits the situation revealing persistent racial discrimination, harassment and violence. Overall, experiences of racial discrimination increased in the EU countries since 2016, reaching as high as 77%. The lack of progress is alarming despite binding anti-discrimination law in the EU since 2000 and significant EU policy developments since then.
Products
11
March
2013
The FRA report 'Inequalities and multiple discrimination in access to and quality of healthcare' examines experiences of unequal treatment on more than one ground in healthcare, providing evidence of discrimination or unfair treatment.
10
March
2013
This book will tell you about FRA’s work on how people might be treated differently in healthcare and on multiple discrimination in healthcare.
7
March
2013
This brief provides a short compilation of FRA findings on the issue of combating hate crime in the EU.
June
2012
This summary in easy read format provides information about FRA’s work on the right to live independently.
27
November
2012
Discrimination and intolerance persist in the European Union (EU) despite the best efforts of Member States to root them out, FRA research shows. Verbal abuse, physical attacks and murders motivated by prejudice target EU society in all its diversity, from visible minorities to those with disabilities. This FRA report is designed to help the EU and its Member States to tackle these fundamental rights violations both by making them more visible and bringing perpetrators to account.
27
November
2012
This EU-MIDIS Data in focus report 6 presents data on respondents’ experiences of victimisation across five crime types: theft of or from a vehicle; burglary or attempted burglary; theft of personal property not involving force or threat (personal theft); assault or threat; and serious harassment. The European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey (EU-MIDIS) is the first EU-wide survey to ask 23,500 individuals with an ethnic and minority background about their experiences of discrimination and criminal victimisation in everyday life.
Report / Paper / Summary
April
2005
This summary provides an insight into the extent of, and policy responses to, racist violence in the EU15. To this end they provide an overview of current knowledge about and responses to racist violence, by the State and civil society, in individual Member States.
26
January
2010
The European Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) conducted European-wide research in 2009 on the contribution of memorial sites to Holocaust education and human rights education in the European Union (EU). This summary report, derived from the main report 'Discover the past for the future. The role of historical sites and museums in Holocaust education and human rights education in the EU', provides selected findings, discussion points and recommendations.
Report / Paper / Summary
10
October
2010
Racism and ethnic discrimination in sport have increasingly become a public issue in European sport over the past decades. This report examines the occurrence and different forms of racism, ethnic discrimination and exclusionary practices in sports, focusing on different sports and levels of practice in the EU.
7
December
2010
The arrival of thousands of separated children in the European Union from third countries poses a serious challenge to EU institutions and Member States, since, according to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, they have a duty to care for and protect children. This summary highlights the key findings of the FRA research on separated, asylum-seeking children in EU Member States.
20
June
2012
This year‘s summary of the FRA Annual report – Highlights 2011 – chronicles the positive developments made in 2011 as well as the challenges facing the EU and its Member States in the field of fundamental rights, drawing on objective, reliable and comparable socio-legal data.
1
December
2007
Equal Voices 22 "Being an older woman is disadvantageous and being additionally a minority, even more so", says Naina Patel in this Equal Voices.
Fundamental Rights Report
12
June
2003
This report provides an account of the activities and achievements of the EUMC during 2002, and was presented on 12 June 2003 to the European Parliament, the Council ...
Report / Paper / Summary
1
June
2008
The Annual Report 2008 is the first to be produced on the basis of the FRA legal base and mandate (Council Regulation 168//2007, art. 4.1(e)). This summary highlights information, events and developments related to racism and xenophobia in the EU for the year 2007 which are contained in the 2008 Annual Report.
1
October
2006
This issue of Equal Voices seeks to give an overview of the main questions around the ‘integration debate' at the EU level: What is the context of the current debate? How is integration defined? Can integration be measured, and how? What should integration policies look like?

May
2009
This report focuses on respondents who identified themselves as Muslims, and is the second in a series of EU-MIDIS ‘Data in Focus' reports exploring different results from the survey. Up to nine ‘Data in Focus' reports are planned. Given the shortage of extensive, objective and comparable data on Muslims in the European Union, EU-MIDIS provides, for the first time, comparable data on how Muslims across the EU experience discrimination and victimisation.
June
2008
The report examines the situation of homophobia in the 27 EU Member States. It analyses comparatively key legal provisions, relevant judicial data, such as court decisions, and case law in the Member States. In addition, the report identifies and highlights 'good practice' in the form of positive measures and initiatives to overcome underreporting of LGBT (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transsexuals) discrimination, to promote inclusion and to protect transgender persons. FRA's legal analysis is the first of two reports related to homophobia and discrimination experienced by members of the LGBT community.
Fundamental Rights Report
1
June
2008
The Annual Report 2008 is the first to be produced on the basis of the FRA legal base and mandate (Council Regulation 168//2007, art. 4.1(e)). It covers information, events and developments related to racism and xenophobia in the EU for the year 2007, which was the Agency's focus of work prior to the adoption of its Multiannual Framework in February 2008. The report summarises the findings of the Agency's on-going data collection through its RAXEN National Focal Points (NFPs) in each of the 27 Member States of the EU.
Thousands of unaccompanied children in Greece are living in conditions that are completely unsuitable – without adequate housing, exposed to the cold weather, facing insecurity and even violence. The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) welcomes the initiative of the European Commission and some Member States to relocate these unaccompanied children.
FRA and the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights facilitated a workshop for law enforcement officers and other relevant partners in Ireland from 26 to 27 February.
On 18 February, the FRA Director welcomed the renewed focus on the post-2020 EU initiative for Roma equality and inclusion in his speech at the 16th Meeting of the National Roma Contact Points in Brussel.
It was 75 years ago today that soldiers liberated the Auschwitz extermination camp. A poignant time to learn from the horrors of the past and build for a better future.
International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) members reaffirmed their commitment to fighting Holocaust distortion, antisemitism, anti-Gypsyism and other forms of discrimination on 19 January.
On 14 and 15 January, FRA, together with the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), facilitated a workshop for law enforcement officers and officials responsible for (hate) crime registration in Belgium.
On 19 December, FRA took part in a Brussels seminar on a working definition of anti-Muslim hatred/Islamophobia.
This year FRA looks forward to a new decade for fundamental human rights across Europe, as the new European Parliament and Commission hit the ground running with a raft of new strategies promoting and protecting rights.
During the second meeting of the European Commission’s antisemitism working group, Member States exchanged best practices and shared experiences of their efforts to prevent, address and respond to antisemitism through education.
During the second meeting of the European Commission’s antisemitism working group, Member States exchanged best practices and shared experiences of their efforts to prevent, address and respond to antisemitism through education.
FRA joined the European Parliament Working Group on Antisemitism, the European Jewish Congress and B'nai B'rith International for a mobilising event on 10 December in Brussels.
The German Federal Police held their autumn conference in Wiesbaden from 27 to 28 November.
Summaries of the findings from the biggest survey of discrimination and hate crime against Jews ever conducted worldwide are now available in Bulgarian, Czech, Estonian, Greek, Hebrew, Latvian, Maltese, Slovak, Slovenian and Portuguese.
European Day of Persons with Disabilities is a time to remind ourselves of the urgent need to live up to our commitments to achieve equality for all. This is especially pressing since the European Disability Strategy will end in 2020.
Today marks 30 years of the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child – a landmark human rights treaty. It changed how adults view and treat children. But despite considerable progress in Europe, basic challenges, such as child poverty, remain.
Last year FRA published its report on the experiences of almost 6,000 people of African descent in 12 EU Member States.
Without adequate data, government and civil society cannot formulate effective responses to antisemitism that continues to haunt Europe. FRA’s latest annual overview of antisemitism data 2008-2018 identifies large gaps in recording antisemitic incidents in a way that allows to collect adequate official data across the EU.
The Irish police force, the Garda Síochána, invited FRA to give a presentation on the experiences of discrimination, harassment and violence of Muslims and people of African descent across the EU.
The Austrian Chamber of Labour organised a workshop to discuss the results of a recent study on discrimination with experts from European institutions, trade unions, Equality bodies and civil society.
Many young Jewish Europeans face antisemitic harassment in Europe, but are also very resilient as they clearly express their Jewish identity, finds a report published today by the European Commission and FRA. Rising hate speech and intolerance towards them shows the urgent need for continued concerted efforts to adequately address society’s longstanding and persistent hostility towards Jews.