Unveiling Racial Tensions: Austria's Prejudice Vs. Germany's Tolerance

A survey found that Black people across the 13 countries felt nowhere as strongly discriminated against as when looking for work in Austria. 59% of respondents reported this. On average across all 13 countries, 45% of respondents had reported experiencing discrimination. Poland (20%), Sweden (25%) and Portugal (26%) had the lowest figures.

Black people in Austria feel more strongly discriminated against when looking for work

According to a survey, Black people across the 13 countries felt nowhere as strongly discriminated against as when looking for work in Austria. This was reported by 59% of respondents. On average across all 13 countries, 45% of respondents had reported experiencing discrimination, the study added. Poland (20%), Sweden (25%) and Portugal (26%) had the lowest figures.

The survey also found that approximately two-thirds of Black people in Austria (67%) and Germany (65%) said they had faced discrimination in the last 12 months. Portugal and Poland were the least racist countries, with 17% and 19% of respondents experiencing discrimination based on their race or ethnicity, according to the FRA.

The Vienna-based Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) found that experiences of racism had increased in most European countries between 2016 and 2022. Austria and Germany saw the biggest rises, jumping from 42% to 64% and 33% to 64% respectively.

The FRA also found that one in four Black people had been stopped by officers in the last five years, with about half of those surveyed feeling it was because of racial profiling.

The agency's director, Michael O'Flaherty, called the trend "shocking" and called on EU states to collect more accurate data on racist incidents and to impose harsher punishments for racially motivated crimes.

Racist harassment or violence has seen no progress in Austria

According to the survey, Black people across the 13 countries felt nowhere as strongly discriminated against as when looking for work in Austria. This was reported by 59% of respondents. On average across all 13 countries, 45% of respondents had reported experiencing discrimination, the study added.

A quarter (23%) said offensive or threatening comments had been made to their child in person because of their ethnic or immigrant background. Almost two out of five parents in Ireland, Germany and Finland (both 38%) and Austria (37%) reported this.

One in four black people had been stopped by officers in the last five years, with about half of those surveyed feeling it was because of racial profiling.

The FRA found that experiences of racism had increased in most European countries between 2016 to 2022. Austria and Germany saw the biggest rises, jumping from 42% to 64% and 33% to 64% respectively.

One in four black people in Austria have been stopped by officers in the last five years

According to the survey, Black people across the 13 countries felt nowhere as strongly discriminated against as when looking for work in Austria. This was reported by 59% of respondents. On average across all 13 countries, 45% of respondents had reported experiencing discrimination, the study added. Poland (20%), Sweden (25%) and Portugal (26%) had the lowest figures.

The same report by the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) shows that 66% of respondents with Sub-Saharan African background were stopped by the police in the five years before the survey, and 37% of them perceived it as racial profiling, which was the highest among participant countries (EU-28 average was 8%). Although Austrian legislation prohibits racial profiling and even offers a legal framework to deal with complaints, there have been only two judgments on racial profiling so far. Yet, according to the Anti-Discrimination Body in Styria, only seven of 1,518 cases on alleged mistreatment by police were submitted before the courts by the public prosecutor’s office.

The agency's director, Michael O'Flaherty, called the trend "shocking." The organization called on EU states to collect more accurate data on racist incidents and to impose harsher punishments for racially motivated crimes.

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), which is an independent human rights monitoring body established by the Council of Europe, issued its sixth report on Austria, which unequivocally said: “Accounts of alleged practices of ethnic profiling by the police, against persons belonging to Black and Muslim communities in particular, continue to be reported.”

In 1999, Senegalese-born Ahmed F. was killed during a drug control operation by the police. Other people can be mentioned: Richard Ibekwe, who died in custody; 19-year-old Johnson Okpara, who jumped out of a window during an interrogation in a juvenile detention center; Edwin Ndupu, Yankuba Ceesay, and Essa Touray. Mike B., an African American teacher, did not die but was severely beaten by Austrian police in a case of mistaken identity.

Another infamous case was Cheibani Wague, who lost his life at the hands of ten people, six police officers, one medical doctor, and three ambulancemen on July 15, 2003. Four years later, the doctor and one police officer were convicted to seven months of suspended prison time.

In the second instance, the police officer’s sentence was reduced to four months. The court’s reasoning behind this: The officer had behaved in accordance with training and therefore could not be held responsible for the disastrous training directed by the Austrian police force. This incident, and the ones mentioned above, demonstrate that police brutality and killing exists for Blacks in Austria. It also shows that this problem is more than a question of the prejudices of single police officers but rather a problem of structural racism.

Two-thirds of black people in Austria (67%) said they faced discrimination in the last 12 months

The survey also asked respondents whether they had felt racially discriminated against in the past five years. A share of 45% said they had for the 13 countries surveyed, an increase of six percentage points from the previous study.

The Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) found that experiences of racism had increased in most European countries between 2016 to 2022. Austria and Germany saw the biggest rises, jumping from 42% to 64% and 33% to 64% respectively.

The survey also found that young women, people with higher education and people wearing religious clothing were the most likely victims. A third of respondents said that they had felt racially discriminated against when looking for work while 31% said that they had felt the same when trying to find a place to live.

The FRA found that one in four black people had been stopped by officers in the last five years, with about half of those surveyed feeling it was because of racial profiling.

The FRA found that experiences of racism had increased in Austria between 2016 and 2022

The FRA found that experiences of racism had increased in most European countries between 2016 and 2022. Black people across the 13 countries felt nowhere as strongly discriminated against as when looking for work in Austria. This was reported by 59% of respondents. On average across all 13 countries, 45% of respondents had reported experiencing discrimination.

The FRA also found that a quarter (23%) of respondents said offensive or threatening comments had been made to their child in person because of their ethnic or immigrant background. Almost two out of five parents in Ireland (39%), Germany and Finland (both 38%) and Austria (37%) reported this.

The FRA Director Michael O'Flaherty said, "It is shocking to see no improvement since our last survey."

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