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

Products
28
October
2014
In light of a lack of comparable data on the respect, protection and fulfilment of the fundamental rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons, FRA launched in 2012 its European Union (EU) online survey of LGBT persons’ experiences of discrimination, violence and harassment.
24
October
2014
Antisemitism can be expressed in the form of verbal and physical attacks, threats, harassment, property damage, graffiti or other forms of text, including hate speech on the internet.
29
September
2014
This document provides clear explanations for children of the key terms used in the child-friendly justice project. It explains what rights are and how these rights should be protected during legal proceedings.
9
July
2014
The EU and its Member States took a variety of important steps in 2013 to protect and promote fundamental rights by
assuming
new international commitments, revamping legislation and pursuing innovative policies on the ground. Yet, fundamental
rights violations seized the spotlight with distressing frequency: would‑be migrants drowning off the EU’s coast,
unprecedented mass surveillance, racist and extremist‑motivated murders, child poverty and Roma deprivation.
30
June
2014
This handbook aims to strengthen the protection of children, specifically addressing the particular needs of child victims of trafficking.
6
June
2014
This year’s FRA annual report looks at fundamental rights-related developments in asylum, immigration and integration; border control and visa policy; information society, respect for private life and data protection; the rights of the child and the protection of children; equality and non-discrimination; racism, xenophobia and related intolerance; access to justice and judicial cooperation; rights of crime victims; EU Member States and international obligations.
21
May
2014
The opportunity to be involved in political life, whether by standing for elected office, joining a political party, or following political news stories in the media, is at the heart of what it means to live in a democratic society. The report analyses data on the situation of political participation of persons with disabilities collected from across the 28 European Union (EU) Member States by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Commission-funded Academic Network of European Disability Experts (ANED).
FRA
5
March
2014
This factsheet presents some examples of survey findings, which are placed alongside general considerations as possible ‘ways forward’ for responding to violence against women.
5
March
2014
This FRA survey is the first of its kind on violence against women across the 28 Member States of the European Union (EU). It is based on interviews with 42,000 women across the EU, who were asked about their experiences of physical, sexual and psychological violence, including incidents of intimate partner violence (‘domestic violence’).
FRA helps EU institutions and countries in the European Union (EU), so-called EU Member States, to ensure that the rights of all people including children are respected. It collects information about rights across the EU and gives advice on how to improve the conditions of vulnerable people such as migrants, asylum seekers, victims of violence, racism and hate crime.
6
January
2014
This Technical report describes how the FRA Roma Pilot survey was carried out and the fieldwork outcomes in 11 EU Member States.
20
December
2013
This thematic situation report examines the effectiveness of responses by public authorities, civil society organisations and others to counter racism, discrimination, intolerance and extremism in Greece and Hungary. The report goes on to make proposals for fighting racist crime, increasing trust in the police, and combating extremism throughout the EU.
3
December
2013
Police officers who ensure that people are able to exercise their fundamental rights and freedoms earn the respect and trust of the public. With this in mind, this manual sets out to foster such human rights-based police work by integrating human rights training into the heart of police training, in line with the European Union’s goals in the field of justice and home affairs.
8
November
2013
This FRA survey is the first-ever to collect comparable data on Jewish people’s experiences and perceptions of antisemitism, hate-motivated crime and discrimination across a number of EU Member States, specifically in Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Its findings reveal a worrying level of discrimination, particularly in employment and education, a widespread fear of victimisation and heightening concern about antisemitism online.
8
November
2013
Jewish people across the European Union (EU) continue to face insults, discrimination, harassment and even physical violence which, despite concerted efforts by both the EU and its Member States, show no signs of fading into the past. Although many important rights are guaranteed legally, widespread and long-standing prejudice continues to hinder Jewish people’s chances to enjoy these rights in reality.
6
November
2013
The FRA survey is the first-ever to collect comparable data on Jewish people’s experiences and perceptions of antisemitism, hate-motivated crime and discrimination across a number of EU Member States, specifically in Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Sweden and the United Kingdom. This technical report gives an overview of the survey methodology, sample and the questionnaire.
7
November
2013
Antisemitism can be expressed in the form of verbal and physical attacks, threats, harassment, property damage, graffiti or other forms of text, including hate speech on the internet. The present report – the ninth update of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) overview of Manifestations of antisemitism in the EU – relates to manifestations of antisemitism as they are recorded by official and unofficial sources in the 28 European Union (EU) Member States.
This 2012 survey provides comparable data from eight countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Sweden and the UK) on Jewish people’s experiences and perceptions of discrimination, hate-motivated crime and antisemitism. The data explorer also allows the filtering of responses by age, gender and strength of Jewish identity of respondents.
22
October
2013
The Opinion assesses the impact of the Framework Decision on the rights of the victims of crimes motivated by hatred and prejudice, including racism and xenophobia.
FRA spoke at the annual meeting of the EU Framework for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and ENNHRI’s Working Group on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 22 June.
On 12 June, FRA participated in the first project board meeting for the Creating system for quantitative data collection to evaluate the situation of Roma in the Czech Society project.
Growing intolerance and attacks on people’s fundamental rights continue to erode the considerable progress achieved over the years, finds FRA’s Fundamental Rights Report 2020. As Europe begins to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic we see a worsening of existing inequalities and threats to societal cohesion.
FRA Director Michael O'Flaherty presented insights from the agency’s Roma and Travellers survey and its second minorities and discrimination survey during a meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs on 4 June.
Racist harassment, violence and discriminatory ethnic profiling are commonplace in Europe. Following the current protests that are spreading across the continent, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) calls on EU Member States to step up their efforts and effectively fight discrimination, harassment and violence against black people.
We, the Diplomatic Missions of Albania, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Montenegro, the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uruguay, as well as the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, the EU Delegation to the International Organisations in Vienna, UN GLOBE Vienna and the Vienna School of International Studies, welcome the 17th May as the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, as a celebration of diversity and inclusion around the world.
More lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people are now open about who they are but fear, violence and discrimination remain high, show the results of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency’s survey on experiences of LGBTI people in Europe. With 140,000 respondents, it is the largest ever survey on hate crime and discrimination against LGBTI people. The findings should drive policy measures to further protect and promote the rights of LGBTI people.
On 28 April, FRA hosted the first meeting of the relaunched Roma Working Party.
COVID-19 is disrupting the lives and livelihoods of billions of workers across the globe. Ahead of International Workers’ Day, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) underlines the need for governments, workers and employers to continue their concerted efforts to combat the outbreak, ensure public health, and safeguard workers’ fundamental rights now and in the future.
Since the beginning of Coronavirus lockdowns, police, women shelters and NGOs have reported a surge in domestic violence, especially violence targeting women. The pandemic exposed how common this serious human rights abuse is and how insufficient the measures to fight it still are. The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) and the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) call on the EU and the Member States to use the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to step up their efforts to effectively protect women's rights.
Government measures to combat COVID-19 have profound implications for everybody’s fundamental rights, including the right to life and to health, as mapped by a new Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) report. Government responses to stop the virus particularly affect the rights of already vulnerable or at-risk people, such as the elderly, children, people with disabilities, Roma or refugees. Respecting human rights and protecting public health is in everyone’s best interest – they have to go hand-in-hand.
Overcrowding and poor access to sanitation have long blighted Roma communities across Europe. On the eve of International Roma Day, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) highlight the longstanding neglect of Roma that is now leaving them highly vulnerable as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads across the globe.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a grave and immense threat to the health of humanity. Governments take urgent measures to curb its spread to safeguard public health and provide medical care to those who need it. They are acting to defend the human rights of health and of life itself. Inevitably, these measures limit our human and fundamental rights to an extent rarely experienced in peacetime. It is important to ensure that such limitations are consistent with our legal safeguards and that their impact on particular groups is adequately taken account of.
While ever more countries introduce measures to counter the current health risks, it is important to remember that societies based on solidarity and inclusion are more resilient to fast-changing circumstances, said the heads of three European human rights institutions on the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
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.