Discrimination against black people ‘commonplace’ in EU: Report

Almost a third of black people in the European Union have been on the receiving end of racial harassment in the past five years, a new survey revealed on Wednesday, describing discrimination in the bloc as “commonplace.”

More than 5,800 first-generation immigrants or descendants of immigrants in 12 EU member states took part in the survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, which concluded that “simply “being black” means often facing entrenched prejudice and exclusion,” euronews.com reported.

Nearly a third of respondents (30%) stated that they had experienced racial harassment in the five years before the survey, with results varying widely between member states.

Finland had the highest rate of all 12 member states surveyed, with 63% of respondents reporting having been the target of offensive non-verbal cues, threatening comments or even threats of violence.

The Mediterranean island nation of Malta had the lowest prevalence (20%).

Five percent also said they had experienced a racist attack in the past five years. In most cases, a vast majority of victims eschewed going to the police, stating that they felt reporting the incident would not change anything or that they either didn’t trust or were afraid of the police.

“Racial discrimination and harassment are commonplace,” Michael O’flaherty, the director of the EU agency said in the report.

“Discriminatory profiling by police, too is a common reality,” he added.

One-quarter of all people surveyed were stopped by the police in the past five years. Among these, four in 10 characterized the most recent stop as racial profiling.

Additionally, nearly 40% of respondents felt they had been discriminated against in the past five years because of their skin color, ethnic origin or religion.