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Equality

Equality, non-discrimination and racism

Equality is a core value of the EU. You have the right to fair treatment regardless of who you are, what you believe, or how you chose to live.

We carry out research and share expertise to help fight discrimination, inequality and racism in all its forms.

Highlights

  • Report / Paper / Summary
    21
    January
    2025
    Climate change affects the daily lives of everyone in the EU and has significant environmental, economic, social and health impacts. To tackle this, the European Green Deal was adopted in 2019. This report examines the Green Deal from a fundamental rights perspective, with the aim of protecting the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment for all. It highlights the lack of fundamental rights in EU climate policy and the need to incorporate these rights into future legislation. It also considers how applying a human-rights-based approach to climate policy could support a fair and inclusive transition.
  • Data explorer
    A total of 139,799 persons aged 15 years or older who describe themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or intersex (LGBTI) completed the online EU-LGBTI II Survey in all EU Member States and the candidate countries of North Macedonia and Serbia.
  • Opinion / Position Paper
    30
    April
    2021
    This opinion illustrates the extent and nature of lived experiences of inequality and discrimination across the EU. It does so with reference to the grounds of discrimination and areas of life covered by the racial and employment equality directives, as well as in relation to the grounds and areas covered by the proposed Equal Treatment Directive.
  • Report / Paper / Summary
    28
    November
    2018
    Almost twenty years after adoption of EU laws forbidding discrimination, people of African descent in the EU face widespread and entrenched prejudice and exclusion. This report outlines selected results from FRA's second large-scale EU-wide survey on migrants and minorities (EU-MIDIS II). It examines the experiences of almost 6,000 people of African descent in 12 EU Member States.
    Products
    The Database 2012-2020 on anti-Muslim hatred provides information on significant international, European and national case law and rulings, UN human rights body decisions, reports, findings by human rights and equality bodies and organisations relating to hate crime, hate speech and discrimination against Muslims, as well as relevant research, reports, studies, data and statistics on these issues. It also provides information on victims' support organisations in the EU Member States.
    12
    December
    2018
    This paper discusses the evolution of European Court of Human Rights case law relating
    to hate crime, providing an update on the most recent rulings. Approaching hate crime
    from a fundamental rights perspective, it shows how Member State authorities’ duty to
    effectively investigate the bias motivation of crimes flows from key human rights
    instruments, such as the European Convention on Human Rights.
    Michael O'Flaherty focuses on the situation of the Jewish community living in the EU.
    10
    December
    2018
    This report outlines the main findings of FRA’s second survey on Jewish people’s experiences with hate crime, discrimination and antisemitism in the European Union – the biggest survey of Jewish people ever conducted worldwide. Covering 12 EU Member States, the survey reached almost 16,500 individuals who identify as being Jewish. It follows up on the agency’s first survey, conducted in seven countries in 2012.
    5
    December
    2018
    Last versions available are EL and NL
    11 March 2021
    This guide explains what profiling is, the legal frameworks that regulate it, and why conducting profiling lawfully is both necessary to comply with fundamental rights and crucial for effective policing and border management. The guide also provides practical guidance on how to avoid unlawful profiling in police and border management operations.
    4
    December
    2018
    The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities commits both the EU and all of its Member States to realising the right of persons with disabilities to live independently in the community – which includes achieving deinstitutionalisation for those residing in institutional settings. But much remains to be done to make this a reality in practice. This report presents the main insights gained during fieldwork on the drivers of and barriers to deinstitutionalisation. Focusing on the local level, it gives voice to a diverse set of actors – most importantly, to people with disabilities themselves.
    Black people in the EU face unacceptable difficulties in getting a decent job because of their skin colour. Racist harassment also remains all too common.
    Black people in the EU face unacceptable difficulties in simply finding somewhere to live because of their skin colour.
    28
    November
    2018
    Almost twenty years after adoption of EU laws forbidding discrimination, people of African descent in the EU face widespread and entrenched prejudice and exclusion. This report outlines selected results from FRA's second large-scale EU-wide survey on migrants and minorities (EU-MIDIS II). It examines the experiences of almost 6,000 people of African descent in 12 EU Member States.
    16
    November
    2018
    This report presents the main insights gained during the EU Fundamental Rights Agency’s project on local engagement for Roma inclusion, which explores how to best involve Roma in integration efforts at the local level. Bringing together local authorities and residents, especially Roma, it investigated what aspects work, which ones do not, and why this is the case.
    9
    November
    2018
    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. The present report provides an overview of data on antisemitism as recorded by
    international organisations and by official and unofficial sources in the 28 European
    Union (EU) Member States, based on their own definitions and categorisations.
    26
    October
    2018
    The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights’ 2018 Fundamental Rights Forum
    brought together more than 700 human rights champions at a time of
    widening social divisions and increasingly polarised politics across
    Europe.
    17
    October
    2018
    Almost 25 million children under 18 are at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU. Poverty deprives children of educational
    opportunities, childcare, access to health care, adequate food and housing, family support and even protection from violence.
    This report outlines data and survey findings that highlight the magnitude of child poverty in the EU, but also presents tools
    available to counter this phenomenon and keep track of progress made.
    20
    September
    2018
    With enormous volumes of data generated every day, more and more decisions are based on data analysis and algorithms. This can bring welcome benefits, such as consistency and objectivity, but algorithms also entail great risks. A FRA focus paper looks at how the use of automation in decision making can result in, or exacerbate, discrimination.
    12
    September
    2018
    In November 2017, the European Commission requested FRA’s support in evaluating the impact on fundamental rights of the European Border Surveillance System (Eurosur) Regulation. Further to this request, FRA reviewed the work of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and analysed cooperation agreements concluded by EU Member States with third countries which are relevant for the exchange of information for the purposes of Eurosur. This report presents the main findings of such review.
    29
    August
    2018
    The founding treaties, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and secondary EU law all provide for EU citizens’ freedom to move and reside freely in any EU country of their choice. Growing numbers of citizens, and their family members, are making use of this freedom and related rights, such as the right not to be discriminated against based on nationality and the right to vote in certain elections in the host Member State. But making these rights a reality remains a challenge. This report presents an EU-wide, comparative overview of the application of the Free Movement Directive (2004/38/EC) across the 28 Member States based on a review of select case law at national level.
    19
    July
    2018
    Across the European Union, Member States are faced with the challenge of integrating Europe’s most deprived
    and disenfranchised minority groups. As a follow up to the EU-MIDIS II findings on Roma, this report presents
    FRA’s findings relating to the issues of education and employment. Encouraging Roma participation in education
    and employment equips communities with higher incomes, better life opportunities and greater social inclusion.
    21
    June
    2018
    Across the European Union, people face hatred because of their skin colour, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexuality. In response, the EU and its Member States have introduced laws against hate crime and support services for victims. But these will only fulfil their potential if victims report hate-motivated harassment and violence to the police, and if police officers record such incidents as hate crimes. This report provides rich and detailed information on hate crime recording and data collection systems across the EU, including any systemic cooperation with civil society.
    6
    June
    2018
    Finnish version now available
    27 January 2020
    European societies are not getting any younger! It is a simple truth we must face both about ourselves and Europe as a whole. In two generations, by 2080, those aged 65 or above will account for almost 30% of the European Union’s population.
    More lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people are now open about who they are but fear, violence and discrimination remain high, show the results of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency’s survey on experiences of LGBTI people in Europe. With 140,000 respondents, it is the largest ever survey on hate crime and discrimination against LGBTI people. The findings should drive policy measures to further protect and promote the rights of LGBTI people.
    On 28 April, FRA hosted the first meeting of the relaunched Roma Working Party.
    COVID-19 is disrupting the lives and livelihoods of billions of workers across the globe. Ahead of International Workers’ Day, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) underlines the need for governments, workers and employers to continue their concerted efforts to combat the outbreak, ensure public health, and safeguard workers’ fundamental rights now and in the future.
    Since the beginning of Coronavirus lockdowns, police, women shelters and NGOs have reported a surge in domestic violence, especially violence targeting women. The pandemic exposed how common this serious human rights abuse is and how insufficient the measures to fight it still are. The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) and the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) call on the EU and the Member States to use the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to step up their efforts to effectively protect women's rights.
    Government measures to combat COVID-19 have profound implications for everybody’s fundamental rights, including the right to life and to health, as mapped by a new Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) report. Government responses to stop the virus particularly affect the rights of already vulnerable or at-risk people, such as the elderly, children, people with disabilities, Roma or refugees. Respecting human rights and protecting public health is in everyone’s best interest – they have to go hand-in-hand.
    Overcrowding and poor access to sanitation have long blighted Roma communities across Europe. On the eve of International Roma Day, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) highlight the longstanding neglect of Roma that is now leaving them highly vulnerable as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads across the globe.
    The COVID-19 pandemic is a grave and immense threat to the health of humanity. Governments take urgent measures to curb its spread to safeguard public health and provide medical care to those who need it. They are acting to defend the human rights of health and of life itself. Inevitably, these measures limit our human and fundamental rights to an extent rarely experienced in peacetime. It is important to ensure that such limitations are consistent with our legal safeguards and that their impact on particular groups is adequately taken account of.
    While ever more countries introduce measures to counter the current health risks, it is important to remember that societies based on solidarity and inclusion are more resilient to fast-changing circumstances, said the heads of three European human rights institutions on the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
    Thousands of unaccompanied children in Greece are living in conditions that are completely unsuitable – without adequate housing, exposed to the cold weather, facing insecurity and even violence. The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) welcomes the initiative of the European Commission and some Member States to relocate these unaccompanied children.
    FRA and the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights facilitated a workshop for law enforcement officers and other relevant partners in Ireland from 26 to 27 February.
    On 18 February, the FRA Director welcomed the renewed focus on the post-2020 EU initiative for Roma equality and inclusion in his speech at the 16th Meeting of the National Roma Contact Points in Brussel.
    Many young Jewish Europeans face antisemitic harassment in Europe, but are also very resilient as they clearly express their Jewish identity, finds a report published today by the European Commission and FRA. Rising hate speech and intolerance towards them shows the urgent need for continued concerted efforts to adequately address society’s longstanding and persistent hostility towards Jews.
    Many people across the EU risk being left behind, as growing intolerance and attacks on people’s fundamental rights continue to erode the considerable progress achieved to date, finds FRA’s Fundamental Rights Report 2019.
    Karoline Edtstadler, State Secretary at the Austrian Ministry of the Interior, and Ariel Muzicant, Vice-President of the European Jewish Congress, will speak at an event in Vienna on 30 April which addresses antisemitism in Austria.
    Antisemitic hate speech, harassment and fear of being recognised as Jewish; these are some of the realities of being Jewish in the EU today. It appears to be getting worse, finds a major repeat survey of Jews from the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, the largest ever of its kind worldwide.
    Black people in the EU face unacceptable difficulties in simply finding somewhere to live or getting a decent job because of their skin colour, according to findings from a major repeat survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. Racist harassment also remains all too common.
    Nearly 60% of Europeans consider being old a disadvantage when looking for work. Societies often view older people as burdens. Too often we overlook the basic human rights of our older people. This year, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in its 2018 Fundamental Rights Report explores how a rights-based approach towards respect for older people is starting to happen.
    Promoting equality and combating racism are essential to fortify social cohesion and democratic security, the heads of three European human rights institutions said in a joint statement on today’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
    A major new survey investigating discrimination and hate crime against Jews living in the European Union will start in 2018, led by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).
    FRA will join a video conference on 18 May to mark the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.
    The FRA Director will address the Bureau of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) on 19 May.
    On 6 May, the European Parliament Intergroup on Rights of the Child will hold a virtual roundtable to reflect and discuss the impact of the current pandemic on children.
    The agency’s Scientific Committee meeting will be held on 24 April via video conference.
    On 14 May, FRA will publish findings from its second LGBTI survey. It was the world's biggest ever EU-wide survey of LGBTI people’s discrimination and hate experiences.