JURIST - Paper Chase: EU agency laments ongoing racial, ethnic bias in Europe

[JURIST] Significant racial and ethnic discrimination and violence persist in European Union countries, according to a report [PDF text; summary, PDF] released by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) [official website] Tuesday. According to the report, victimized groups include asylum seekers, refugees, undocumented migrants, Roma gypsies [ERRC backgrounder], Jews and Muslims. Despite identification of the problem, the EUMC detailed the difficulty in compiling data and exposing the extent of racial and ethnic bias due to lack of reporting by EU nations [EUMC press release]. Racial and ethnically motivated violence represents the most underreported type of discrimination with only Great Britain and Finland providing complete racial crime statistics, while five countries reported no crime numbers. Some countries, including France, have no statistics because they do not classify residents by race or ethnicity. The EUMC suspects substantial bias in education and housing, two sectors also lacking adequate reporting, caused by insufficient access to resources as well as active discrimination.

The EUMC speculates that the increasing migration of Middle Eastern Muslims into Europe caused a rise in discrimination figures; however, Roma and Jews are also identified as significantly vulnerable groups. The Washington Times has more.

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