A/HRC/13/57
48.
In 2008, the year which marked the commemoration of the seventieth anniversary of
the Night of the Broken Glass, the Commission had also continued to be concerned by
manifestations of anti-Semitism in Europe. Attacks on synagogues and Jewish cemeteries,
and sometimes physical assaults, continued to take place. Anti-Semitic rhetoric was
increasing through the use of modern technologies such as the Internet. In some countries
of the Council of Europe, political parties and leaders fuelled this rhetoric. Based on this
finding, the Commission strongly recommended that member States continue and reinforce
their cooperation in order to find solutions to anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance
on the Internet.
49.
In the framework of its statutory activities, in 2008, the Commission also conducted
country-by-country monitoring, analysing the situation regarding racism and intolerance in
several countries and drawing up suggestions and proposals for addressing challenges,
including for dealing with incitement to hatred, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.
European Union
50.
On 28 May 2009, the Fundamental Rights Agency of the European Union released,
as part of its European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey series, a report
examining discrimination against Muslims in the European Union under the title, “Data in
Focus – Report 2: Muslims”.19 The report reflected the views of Muslim respondents of
diverse ethnic origins.
51.
On average, one in three respondents reported having experienced discrimination in
the previous 12 months, while 11 per cent reported having experienced a hate crime. The
overwhelming majority of victims (79 per cent) had not reported the discriminatory
incident or hate crime to any organization. Twenty-five per cent of respondents stated that
they had been stopped by the police in the previous 12 months and 40 per cent of them
considered they had been stopped because of ethnic profiling.
52.
While the overwhelming majority of Muslims surveyed (89 per cent) stated that
religion played a “fairly important” to “very important” role in their lives, they did not
consider religion to be the main reason for their discrimination. The findings also showed
that wearing traditional or religious clothing did not increase the likelihood of
discrimination. Of those Muslim respondents who reported having experienced
discrimination in the previous 12 months, the majority believed this was due mainly to their
ethnic background or to a combination of their ethnicity and their religion. Only 10 per cent
stated that the discrimination they had experienced was based solely on their religion. In
addition to their personal experiences of discrimination, the survey also inquired about
general perceptions regarding the extent of discrimination. Although perceptions varied
from country to country, overall 51 per cent of the Muslims surveyed believed that
discrimination on grounds of religion or belief was “fairly” to “very” widespread.
53.
Based on the survey findings, the Agency called on European Union Governments
to raise awareness about how to lodge a complaint, to improve the recording of
discrimination and racist crimes, to better inform individuals and groups of their rights, to
allocate more resources to integration measures, especially for youth, and to strengthen the
role, capacity and accessibility of mechanisms where incidents can be addressed and
followed-up.
19
12
Available online at: http://fra.europa.eu/eu-midis/.
GE.10-10223
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