Discrimination describes any action that denies a person certain rights, that treats them unfairly or intolerantly, that threatens or humiliates them or puts them in danger. Racial discrimination is when the above actions are carried out on account of the discriminated person's physical characteristics, their ethnicity, religious beliefs or because of their culture or nationality. By racism we mean an ideology that classifies people into groups, on the basis of real or imagined differences which are deemed to be unalterable. Racists claim that people belong to a certain group by giving them pseudo-biological origins or a common culture. Racists emphasise the differences - real or imagined - to justify inequalities between groups or to defend privileges.
With regard to the integration, only cases of discrimination related to nationality, religion, ethnic origins, skin colour or other distinctive physical features were taken into account.
The number of people having experienced racial discrimination in the 5 years preceding the survey was divided by the number of persons in the population group by sex, age, nationality, place of birth, level of education, language region and degree of urbanisation. The indicator is expressed as a percentage.
Victims were able to indicate several situations in which they had experienced an act of racial discrimination. This meant that we were able to deduce how often each type of situation occurred in relation to all the situations taken together.
- The “socio-professional or economic situations” category lists cases experienced when looking for housing, when applying for a job or an apprenticeship position, at school, during higher education, at work on a day-to-day basis.
- The “public and state institutions” category lists cases of discrimination experienced in public administration, in the health sector, during contacts with the police, army or social assistance.
- The “social interaction” category includes cases experienced in public spaces, when entering a restaurant, club or discotheque, during leisure activities, sport or in associations.
- The “family and private sphere” category includes cases experienced in individuals’ private lives or within their family.
- Lastly, for situations not mentioned, the act of discrimination is classified under “Other situations”.