Racialdiscrimination is anydiscrimination against any individual based on their skin colour, or racial or ethnic origin. There are different types of racialdiscrimination, such as direct discrimination; e.g., treating someone less favourably than others, and indirect discrimination; e.g., putting rules or arrangements in place that apply to everyone, but that put someone with a protected characteristic at an unfair disadvantage.
In 2023, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights published the report Being Black in the EU. The results showed that one third of the people of African descent across 12 EU countries declared having faced racialharassment in the last past five years, and even a larger number (47%) felt they have experienced racialdiscrimination. The study highlighted that people of African descent face widespreadprejudice and exclusion as well as racialdiscrimination and harassment, particularly when it comes to employment and housing, or discriminatory profiling by the police. As a response to the study onracism carried out on EU-level, the Ministry of Family Affairs, Solidarity, Living Together and Migration ordered a national survey to elicit population’s perceptions and attitudes onracism and ethno-racialdiscrimination in Luxembourg in 2022. Confirming the results of the EU-report, this national report highlighted widespreaddiscrimination based on skin color, race and ethnic origins.
According to the Centre for Equal Treatment (CET), the most common ground ofdiscrimination in Luxembourg is ethnic origin andrace.
Resources by IMS Luxembourg and the Diversity Charter Lëtzebuerg
As part of the Charter, an independent working group is currently working on the issue ofracism in the workplace.
External resources
Race refers to a group sharing certain distinctive physical traits, such as skin color, and is something that's inherent in our biology and therefore inherited across generations.
Ethnicity refers to the cultural expression and identification of people of different geographic regions, including their customs, history, language, andreligion, and is therefore something we acquire, or self-ascribe, based on factors like where we live or the culture we share with others.
Employers can legally ask about racial or ethnic origins, however, this type of information can only be disclosed on a voluntary basis, meaning that employees are not obliged to answer. In addition, personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin are, according to Article 9 of the General Data Protection regulation (GDPR), considered as ‘sensitive’ data and are subject to specific processing conditions.
To use the expression "ethnic diversity" is to assume the existence of ethnic groups within an organisation. However, the aim is to combat all forms ofdiscrimination associated with the notion of real or supposed membership of arace or ethnic group. Instead, we should be talking about a diversity policy in the broadest sense and inclusive HR practices.
