The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has released the first two reports from the "EU Minorities and Discrimination Survey (EU-MIDIS) - these are the "EU-MIDIS at a Glance" (which provides an overview of the complete survey) and "Data in Focus 1: Roma" (which has detail on the EU's most vulnerable minority group). Executed by Gallup, the survey reveals that discrimination, harassment and racially motivated violence are far more widespread than recorded in official statistics. The results suggest a sense of resignation among ethnic minorities and immigrants who appear to lack confidence in mechanisms to protect victims.
Over half (55%) of migrants and minorities surveyed by FRA think that discrimination based on ethnic origin is widespread in their country, and over a third (37%) say that they have personally experienced discrimination in the past 12 months. Roughly one in eight (12%) personally experienced a racist crime in the past 12 months. However, 80% of these did not report the incident to the police.
Of all the groups surveyed by the FRA, the Roma emerge as the most vulnerable to discrimination and racist crime. Roma reported the highest levels of discrimination, with one in two respondents saying that they were discriminated against in the last 12 months. High levels of discrimination were also mentioned by Sub-Saharan Africans (41%) and North Africans (36%).
The EU-MIDIS survey, conducted in 2008 by Gallup, was based on face-to-face interviews with a random sample of respondents from selected ethnic minority and immigrant groups in all 27 EU Member States. 23,500 people of an ethnic minority or immigrant background were interviewed. The survey is the first of its kind to systematically survey minority groups across the EU using the same standard questionnaire.
For the full reports, visit the site.