Widespread discrimination and intolerance persists across the EU
The main results of the Second European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey (EU-MIDIS II) were published by the European Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) today, and highlight the need for specific and stronger measures to provide legal protection against discrimination, coupled with effective sanctions.
Conducted by Ipsos, and carried out in all 28 EU member states, the survey asked about experiences of discrimination, harassment, police stops, and rights awareness, as well as markers of integration, such as the sense of belonging and trust in public institutions, and openness towards other groups.
Some of the key findings include:
- 38% of respondents were discriminated against over the last five years with North Africans (45%), Roma (41%) and Sub-Saharan Africans (39%) particularly affected. Discrimination was greatest when it came to looking for work (29%).
- 31% of second-generation immigrant respondents experienced hate-motivated harassment in the last year. 50% of these victims were harassed at least six times in that year;
- Fewer minority members (61%) completed at least upper secondary education compared to the general population (74%). This reduces their employment chances.
In addition, 88% of ethnic discrimination, 90% of hate-motivated harassment and 72% of hate-motivated violence were not reported, indicating that much stronger outreach is needed to encourage victims to come report incidents, while law enforcement and equality bodies need the right tools to deal with these reports effectively.
Technical Note
- This report is part of an EU-wide survey of 25,500 people with an immigrant or ethnic minority background, including Roma and Russians, in all 28 EU Member States.
- It was conducted by Ipsos on behalf of FRA and builds on FRA’s first such survey, conducted in 2008.
- Interviews were conducted face to face between September 2015 and September 2016.
- FRA is the EU’s independent body for delivering fundamental rights assistance and expertise to the EU and its Member States.
