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Muslims in Europe are experiencing 'disturbing rise' in racism, survey reveals

2024-10-24 18:52:43Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Muslims in Europe are experiencing 'disturbing rise' in racism, survey
Extreme right-wing protests in Germany

Muslims in Europe are facing a "disturbing rise" in racism that is fueled in part by "inhumane anti-Muslim rhetoric". This is revealed by a survey by the EU's main human rights agency, according to which almost half of Muslim respondents stated that they had recently experienced discrimination.

The survey, which was published on Thursday by the FRA and involved 9,600 Muslims in 13 member states, found that racism and discrimination affect most aspects of their lives.

People reported that children were bullied at school, inequality in access to job opportunities, and prejudice when it comes to renting or buying homes.

Although the survey was completed before Hamas' October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, which led to fierce reprisals in Gaza, the Vienna-based agency said information from civil society organizations and national authorities suggested that the number of anti-Muslim incidents had continued to grow since the conflict broke out.

"We are witnessing a worrying increase in racism and discrimination against Muslims in Europe. This is fueled by the conflicts in the Middle East and exacerbated by the dehumanizing anti-Muslim rhetoric we see across the continent," said the agency's director, Sirpa Rautio.

After the Oct. 7 attacks, officials scrambled to curb a surge in hate crimes targeting the Muslim and Jewish communities, ranging from an attempted arson attack at a synagogue in Berlin to dozens of letters containing threats and insults sent to Muslim councils and mosques in France.

The FRA, speaking to Muslims in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, found that 47% reported experiencing racism in the five years before 2022, from 39% that were in 2016.

"What we see is that the situation of Muslims is getting worse. It's getting more complicated to live as a Muslim in the EU," said Vida Beresnevičiūtė, a co-author of the survey.

The degree of reported discrimination appears to be closely related to the rise of the far right. In Austria, where the anti-immigration Freedom party (FPÖ) founded by the Nazis recently emerged as the party with the most votes for it, 71% of Muslims reported recent experiences of racism. In Germany, where the anti-immigration Alternative für Deutschland is constantly winning, 68% reported discrimination, writes "The Guardian".

Across the 13 Member States surveyed, 39% of Muslims reported discrimination in the labor market, with 41% working in jobs for which they were overqualified.

A third of respondents (35%) said they were prevented from buying or renting a home because of discrimination, up from 22% in 2016. "The phenomenon is widespread and persistent," said Beresnevičiūtė. "The distribution is overwhelming."

The consequences of this racism were far-reaching and long-lasting. Muslims are more likely to live in poverty, crowded into overcrowded housing and 2.5 times more likely to be on temporary contracts. Muslim respondents were three times more likely to leave school early than the general population across the EU.

Particularly disturbing were the experiences of young Muslims, Beresnevičiūtė said. More than half of European-born Muslims (55%) said they had felt racially discriminated against when looking for work in the past five years, suggesting they were not being treated equally despite having the same skills and language qualifications .

"It's terrible," said Beresnevičiūtė, who noted that many Muslims reported discrimination after feeling targeted for their religion, skin color, and ethnic or immigrant background.

Women who wear religious clothing, such as the headscarf, also reported higher levels of discrimination in the labor market. When it came to women between the ages of 16 and 24 who wear religious clothing, the reported rate of discrimination rose to 58%.

FRA called on member states to implement tougher sanctions for discrimination and hate crimes, and to collect data on equality, including ethnic or racial origin, to allow policymakers to set better targets and track progress. Unlike the UK, most EU countries do not collect census data on racial or ethnic diversity.

Thursday's poll follows a report last year that found nearly half of black people surveyed across the EU reported discrimination.

Taken together, the reports suggest that "racism and racial discrimination is an ongoing phenomenon across the EU and needs to be addressed," Beresnevičiūtė said. "And this without specific effort, does not disappear."


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