Equal Opportunities Centre investigated 8.7% more cases of alleged discrimination in 2018
The number of cases of alleged discrimination investigated by the Inter-Federal Equal Opportunities Centre Unia was up by 8.7% in 2018 compared with the figures for 2017. Almost one in three cases were from (would-be) tenants or customers that believed that they had been discriminated against by landlords or shopkeepers. Although most of the complaints Unia received were about racial discrimination, the centre is receiving a growing number of complaints from people living with a disability of with health issues.
In its annual report that was published on Monday Unia writes that it opened 2,192 cases last year. This is 8.7% more than in 2017 and 64% more than the 1,406 cases it opened in 2013.
614 complaints were about discrimination with regard to access to goods and services (for example housing). 510 complaints were about discrimination on the job market or in the workplace. The number of cases concerning goods and services are on the increase. These cases include people with foreign roots that are unable to let a house or flat because they have a foreign name and older people that are unable to get debt balance insurance because of their age. Last year almost a third of all complaints concerned discrimination regarding access to goods and services.
33% of discrimination is racially motivated
1 in 3 of all cases of discrimination reported are racially motivated. However, a growing number of people are approaching Unia to report discrimination against themselves or someone closed to them due to a physical or intellectual disability.
The number such cases has risen from 17% to 25% of the total. It is a similar picture with regard to discrimination against people living with an illness.
These are people that lose their jobs due to a prolonged period of illness or people with cancer or than had cancer and are now unable to get insurance. There were a total of 153 such cases last years, 78.3% more than the average for the 5 previous years.