ANKARA

As divisive, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim policies gain traction globally, European countries have also seen a surge in racist incidents in recent years.

Anadolu compiled data on racial attacks and rhetoric across Europe ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on Friday.

While racist attacks have increased in France and the UK, political rhetoric in the Netherlands and Bosnia and Herzegovina risk fueling anti-Muslim discrimination.

Rise in anti-religious crimes in France

According to a report by France’s Interior Ministry Statistics Service, 16,000 racist, xenophobic, and anti-religious crimes were seen in 2024, up 11% from 2023.

Of these, 9,400 were classified as high or medium-level offenses.

The majority of victims were men aged 25 to 54, often of African descent.

The report also noted that racist crime rates in Paris were three to four times higher than in the rest of the country.

Attacks targeting Muslims have also risen.

Last year, a disabled Muslim woman was assaulted outside a shopping mall, and racist graffiti continued to appear on mosque walls.

Over 1,000 people attacked in UK for being Muslim

UK police recorded a peak in racist hate crimes between 2021 and 2022, with 109,843 incidents reported.

While there has been a slight decrease since then, the figures remain far above the decade-long average. From March 2023 to March 2024, 70% of all hate crimes were racially motivated, with 98,799 out of 140,561 reports classified as racist attacks.

According to the UK Office for National Statistics, 6% of victims suffered injuries, while 15% were physically assaulted without injury.

The attacks targeted Asians in 31% of cases, whites in 31%, and Black individuals in 24%.

Far-right violence in late July and early August 2023 also targeted Muslims from various ethnic backgrounds.

The anti-Muslim hate crime monitoring group Tell MAMA reported that 1,029 people were attacked last year based on their perceived Muslim identity.

Of these, 53% wore headscarves, 30% had beards, and 3% wore face coverings.

Muslim women were frequently subjected to both sexist and racist abuse, while men were often accused of exploitation, with Pakistanis being the primary targets of such claims.

Netherlands among most discriminatory countries in Europe

Discrimination has been a growing issue in the Netherlands, particularly following the electoral success of far-right leader Geert Wilders and a coalition government led by his far-right party.

The resignation of a Moroccan-born government minister over alleged racist remarks further exposed systemic bias. Customs and Welfare Minister Nora Achahbar resigned last Nov. 7 in protest of racist rhetoric in Cabinet meetings discussing unrest after an Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv football match.

According to the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics, one in 10 people reported experiencing discrimination in 2023, amounting to 1.6 million individuals, a figure similar to 2021 levels.

The most common causes cited were race, skin color, and nationality.

The European Commission ranked the Netherlands as the European country where ethnic discrimination is most prevalent, with 82% of respondents reporting experiences of bias.

One of the most significant racial discrimination cases in recent Dutch history was the childcare benefits scandal, in which tax authorities wrongly accused families of fraud based on ethnicity.

As a result, between 2015 and June 2022, over 2,000 children were forcibly removed from their families.

The scandal led to the Dutch government’s resignation in January 2021, and compensation was allocated to affected families.

Rise in separatist rhetoric in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina has faced increasing political tensions due to separatist rhetoric from the leadership of Republika Srpska, one of the country’s two entities.

Milorad Dodik, the president of Republika Srpska, has taken steps toward secession, deepening the country’s political crisis by refusing to recognize state institutions and initiating the creation of parallel structures.

Amid the unease, Bosnian Muslims in Serb-dominant areas continue to face pressure and discrimination, with repeated attacks on mosques and anti-Muslim rhetoric.