European Network Against Racism: Equality data collection matters – it can help combat discrimination
There is no European-wide data on how many persons experience unequal treatment because of their racial or ethnic origin, despite the fact that over one in two Europeans believe that discrimination because of one’s racial or ethnic origin is widespread. Yet without measuring and quantifying the extent of discrimination – so-called ‘equality data collection’ – in Europe, it is very difficult to tackle it effectively.
ENAR’s publication : ‘Measure, Plan, Act: How data collection can support racial equality’, launched today, provides evidence that equality data collection is legally possible and not costly, because it only entails adding extra categories to existing censuses or other data collection processes. For example, the United Kingdom collects equality data to monitor progress in achieving equality since 1991.
Many EU Member States in fact already collect data on other criteria revealing racial or ethnic origin, such as citizenship, country of birth, name, or language spoken at home, but outside of necessary safeguards. They also often do not use the data for the benefit of discriminated groups, but for racial profiling – a prohibited practice – for instance.
In addition, over 65% of ethnic minorities would be in favour of providing, on an anonymous basis, personal information about their ethnic origin, as part of a census, if that could help to combat discrimination in their country.
