Elaine Attard



A total of 71 per cent of young Muslims in Malta feel they have been discriminated against, a European study has concluded.

Seventy-one per cent of young Muslims in Malta said they were discriminated against while a third of young Muslims interviewed all over Europe said they had experienced the same.

Also, 64 per cent of Africans of North and Sub-Saharan origin in Malta who identified themselves as Muslims, experienced discrimination in the past 12 months.

The European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey (EU-MIDIS), the first EU-wide survey to ask immigrant and ethnic minority groups about their experiences of discrimination and criminal victimisation in everyday life, uncovered the information when the survey was published yesterday.

The report says that the Malta’s example merits future careful examination.

“The high levels of experienced discrimination should be toned down as they affect asylum seekers primarily, who enter the country in disproportionate numbers to those in other member states and to the size of the country’s population, as United Nations High Commission for Refugees figures show. This could mean that Malta stands to benefit from targeted EU support in its efforts to deal with discrimination in relation to specific groups, such as asylum seekers.

Regarding the number of discrimination incidents among those discriminated against at least once in the past year, Malta placed 6th among the 19 participant countries with 6.8 incidents.

Fifty-two per cent of Muslims in Malta are not aware of a law that forbids discrimination against people looking for a job on the basis of their ethnic or immigrant background. 23 per cent said it does not exist and 25 per cent said it does. It is interesting to note that 94 per cent of Muslims said Malta does not have an agency that offers support to people who were discriminated against. In fact Africans in Malta and Iraqis in Sweden were the least aware of anti-discrimination structures.

The information in the report serves to highlight areas in which discrimination is prevalent. In the case of Malta, Africans are either absent from certain areas or experienced very little discrimination, possibly reflecting their particular circumstances as asylum seekers who make little use of housing or social services, education, banks and shops. On the other hand 43 per cent experienced discrimination when looking for a job and only 25 per cent work. This indicates a precarious employment situation.

Malta ranked in the top three countries together with Italy and Germany were Muslims are discriminated against when looking for work or at work mostly. In Malta 43 per cent of Muslims interviewed were discriminated against in the past 12 months when looking for work while 25 per cent were discriminated against in the past 12 months at work. This indicates the need for policies and measures on housing, health, social care and education specifically targeting this group. North African Muslims in Italy experience the most discrimination, according to the survey.

The survey also revealed that 20 per cent of Muslims interviewed experienced discrimination by healthcare personnel while 33 per cent were discriminated against in a café, bar or nightclub.

Over all, little differences were registered between Muslim men and women’s experience of discrimination except for Spain, France and Italy where men suffered more than women.

The survey also delved into whether wearing traditional or religious clothing made a difference. The survey findings contradicts the assumption that wearing traditional or religious clothing, such as headscarves leaves a negative impact on visibility on the behaviour of mainstream society towards minorities.

Given the shortage of extensive, objective and comparable data on Muslims in the European Union, EU-MIDIS provides, for the first time, comparable data on how Muslims across the EU experience discrimination and victimisation.

Many incidents of discrimination and victimisation go unreported, and current data collection regarding minority groups is limited in many Member States. EU-MIDIS therefore provides the most comprehensive evidence to date of the extent of discrimination and victimisation against minorities in the EU.

Although Malta registered high victimisation rates, it ranked low on police reporting rates. The survey found out, that respondents who were victims of assault, threat or serious harassment roughly experienced three incidents over a year. This shows that “in-person” crime can include racially motivated incidents, a recurring problem for certain people which requires targeted attention. The majority of respondents indicated that they did not report their experience of criminal victimisation to the police. This could mean that they are afraid of being discriminated against by the police and does do not feel they are protected enough by the authorities.

A total of 23,500 Muslim immigrants and ethnic minority people were interviewed face-to-face questionnaire in all 27 Member States of the EU during 2008. A further 5,000 people from the majority population living in the same areas as minorities were interviewed in 10 Member States, to allow for comparisons of results concerning some key questions.