New research is a stark reminder that racism is not an ‘America problem’, but one rife on our own doorstop

The FRA has recently published their second large-scale research on migrants and minorities across the EU, Being Black in the EU. This new research is a stark reminder that the systematic racism that is currently illuminated in America, is not an “over there problem”, it’s a problem right on our doorstep too. The FRA surveyed 6,000 people of African descent across 12 EU member states, the United Kingdom included. The survey begins with a reminder that it is written in EU law that everyone has a right to be free from discrimination, then goes on to explicitly show that for many, this is not the case. Across the EU, people of African descent are facing widespread racism, with violence, harassment and profiling from the police an all too common reality.

Key findings:

• There is widespread racist violence and harassment across the EU, with 30% of respondents of African descent saying they had experienced racist harassment in the last 5 years. On top of this, 5% of respondents had experienced racist violence over the last 5 years, with the highest rates in Finland (14%), Ireland (13%), Austria (13%) and Luxemburg (11%). One in 10 (11%) of victims of racist violence identified the perpetrator as a police officer.

• Police stops are rampant with racial profiling. Over the last 5 years, 24% of respondents of African descents had been stopped by the police, and 11% had been stopped in the last year. Of those stopped in the last year, almost half (44%) believe the stop was racially motivated, with the highest rates in Italy (70%) and Austria (63%).

• Across all parts of life, racial discrimination is a reality. More than 39% of respondents of African Descent had been racially discriminated against in the last 5 years, and 24% had in the past 12 months, with highest rates in Luxembourg (50%), Finland (45%), Austria (42%) and Denmark (41%). Filing a report or complaint against racial discrimination is rare, with a meagre 16% doing so.

• Discrimination in employment is all too common, with 25% having experienced racial discrimination when looking for work and the highest rates found in Austria (46 %), Luxembourg (47 %) and Italy (46 %).

• Access to housing is massively impacted by racism as shown by 21% of respondents of African descent having been racially discriminated against when accessing housing over the past 5 years. The highest rate of this was seen in Austria (39%), Italy (39%), Luxembourg (36%) and Germany (33%). Furthermore, 13% said they have great difficulty making ends meet, a significantly higher amount than the general population. This was most extreme in Austria, where 50% said they had great difficulty in making ends meet, whereas in contrast 4% of the general population in Austria reports the same problem.

Access the full report here.