Antisemitism – Summary overview of the situation of data collection in the European Union

Hate crime
Equality, non-discrimination and racism
Every year, FRA analyses and publishes a report based on official and unofficial data on manifestations of antisemitism. This report feeds into EU and Member State level efforts to counter antisemitism.
Project Status
Findings available
Project start date
2015
Report / Paper / Summary
10
September
2020

Antisemitism: Overview of antisemitic incidents recorded in the European Union 2009-2019

Antisemitism can be expressed in the form of verbal and physical attacks, threats, harassment, discrimination and unequal treatment, property damage and graffiti or other forms of speech or text, including on the internet. Antisemitic incidents and hate crimes violate fundamental rights, especially the right to human dignity, the right to equality of treatment and the freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
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What?

This is a report published annually based on data on antisemitism recorded by international, governmental and non-governmental sources. The report also includes information concerning the use the non-legally binding working definition of antisemitism developed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), and the national strategies and other measures adopted – or under development – to counter antisemitism. The 2020 edition of the report includes data for the 27 EU Member States, North Macedonia, Serbia and the United Kingdom.

Why?

Antisemitism continues to be a reality in the EU. More than four in five respondents (85 %) to FRA’s 2018 survey on discrimination and hate crime against Jews in 12 EU Member States consider antisemitism to be a problem in the country they live in. Over three in five respondents (63 %) feel that there has been a big increase in antisemitism over the past five years. Respondents also reported incidents of violence and harassment. Despite this, few EU Member States operate official data collection mechanisms that record incidents of antisemitism in detail. This lack of systematic data collection limits the ability of policy makers and other stakeholders to take effective, evidence-based action to counter antisemitism.

How?

FRA consults a variety of sources to obtain the most complete and accurate picture of the data available on the situation of antisemitism in the EU. as reflected by official and unofficial statistics. These data sources include the following:

  • Official sources of data on antisemitism available in the public domain, both at international and national levels. Sources at the international level include the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) at the Council of Europe. At the national level, data sources include statistics published by relevant governmental offices, equality bodies, police forces and other criminal justice institutions.
  • Specific requests made to governmental offices through the system of National Liaison Officers in place at FRA to ensure that the latest available official data on the situation of antisemitism are taken into consideration in drafting the yearly update.
  • Antisemitism data published by civil society organisations and NGOs are also taken into consideration.