Annual report 2024: Discrimination: Number of advice for advice reaches the highest value

Last year, more than 11,400 people turned to the federal anti -discrimination agency for experiences with discrimination – and thus more than ever before. This emerges from an annual report of the position, which the federal anti -discrimination officer, Ferda Ataman, presented in Berlin.

“This is the highest number that the federal anti -discrimination agency has ever reached,” said Ataman. In 2023, just under 10,800 those seeking advice came to the scene, in the pre-Corona year 2019 it was just a little more than 4,200 inquiries. The number of inquiries has more than doubled since 2019, she emphasized.

The majority of the inquiries go back to experiences with racism

With a share of 43 percent, experience with racism had identified the majority of inquiries in 2024. As an example, Ataman cited the case of a man with a foreign name, who has been looking for an apartment in Wuppertal for months and was never invited to a visit. “When his friend Stefan takes the test and applies for the same apartment, he is invited immediately for a visit. For Mahmoud, she was supposed to be awarded,” said Ataman.

The proportion of inquiries about disadvantages due to disability or a chronic illness was therefore 27 percent. Almost a quarter of cases (24 percent) are connected to the gender or gender identity. “We see discrimination because of gender that women are particularly affected here and that the numbers are increasing.”

On the question of where discrimination is experienced, the report registered the largest share in working life, i.e. for example when looking for work or at work (33 percent).

Ataman complains of gaps in the legal protection of discrimination

More than 1,200 people have complained about discrimination experiences with government agencies, such as with offices and authorities or the police, the report says. In these cases, however, there is no protection against discrimination under the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG), emphasized Ataman. In order for this to change, the AGG urgently must be reformed from its point of view. People in Germany are “better protected against discrimination in the restaurant than in the office”.

Of the 11,405 inquiries that had reached the position last year, a little more than 9,000 cases fell under the AGG. In the case of the remaining inquiries, the protection of discrimination does not apply according to this law. “Not every unequal treatment is prohibited with us,” said Ataman.

So far, citizenship has not been covered as a reason for discrimination

The background: The AGG protects against disadvantages based on certain characteristics. Discrimination is prohibited due to age, disability, gender, religion or worldview, sexual identity and “breed” or “ethnic origin”, ie because of racist and anti -Semitic attributions. The AGG uses working life and everyday business. For years, Ataman and other representatives such as anti -Semitism representative Felix Klein have been calling for an expansion of the law, for example to protect people who are discriminated against due to their nationality.