FRA survey of Jewish people's experiences and perceptions of antisemitism.
Date: 2012-04-20
Institutions: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
Subjects: EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, Jew, antisemitism, equal treatment

HElping To MAkE FUnDAMEnTAl RigHTS 
A REAliTy FoR EvERyonE in THE EURopEAn Union

Equality

FRA survey of Jewish people’s 
experiences and perceptions of antisemitism

Article  21  of  the  Charter  of  Fundamental  Rights  of  the 

European  Union  recognises  the  right  to  be  free  from 

discrimination, including on the basis of race, ethnic or social 

origin, religion or belief, political or any other opinion.  

Policy context 

treatment  constitutes  a 
The  principle  of  equal 
 fundamental value  of  the  European  Union  (EU)  and  is 
anchored in a number of its core documents, such as the 
Charter of Fundamental Rights. Article 19 of the Treaty 
on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) grants 
the Union powers to combat discrimination on grounds 
including racial or ethnic  origin and religion or belief.

The  Racial  Equality  Directive  2000/43/EC  provides 
comprehensive  protection  against  direct  and  indirect 
 discrimination, as well as harassment, on the grounds of 
race or ethnicity in several areas such as:  employment 
and training, education and social protection.

The  Council  Framework  Decision  2008/913/JHA  on 
combating  certain  forms  and  expressions  of  racism 
and xenophobia by means of criminal law, requires that 
EU  Member  States  ensure  that  criminal  penalties  are 
in  place  for  acts  including:  committing  or  assisting  in 
public incitement to violence or hatred against groups, 
such  as  those  defined  by  religion,  descent  or  ethnic 
origin,  and  for  publicly  condoning,  denying  or  grossly 
trivialising crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity 
and war crimes.

Key issues

Antisemitism in the EU

The  FRA  reports  annually  on  antisemitism  based 
on  existing  governmental  and  non-governmental 

data  and  information.  These  reports  have  shown 
that  Jewish  people  in  the  EU  continue  to  be  affected 
by  manifestations  of  antisemitism.  When  it  occurs, 
individuals may find themselves discriminated against 
or  harassed  –  for  example  at  work,  school  or  when 
using various services. They may also become victims 
of  hate  crime.  This  affects  not  only  victims,  but  also 
their families and communities in the form of anxiety, 
insecurity and fear. Jewish people may also be affected 
by antisemitic hate speech. 

The existing data in EU Member States on the nature, 
extent and, in particular, the effects of antisemitism on 
Jewish  people  are  patchy  and  not  comparable,  as  the 
FRA has highlighted over the years in its annual reports 
on antisemitism.

The survey

European institutions and EU Member States need more 
data to draw a more comprehensive picture of the situ-
ation  in  order  to  formulate  informed  policy  and  legal 
responses to combat antisemitism.

To  address  this  need,  in  2012  the  FRA  will  carry  out 
a  survey  among  Jewish  populations  in  selected  EU 
Member States. The survey will focus on Jewish people’s 
experiences and perceptions of antisemitism.

The survey aims to provide:

  robust,  reliable  and  comparable  data  on  the 
experiences  and  perceptions  of  antisemitism  by 
Jewish people in selected EU Member States;

  evidence-based  advice  to  EU  and  national  level 
policy  makers  in  order  to  assist  them  when  they 
develop policies and measures to combat antisemi-
tism,  to  improve  rights  awareness  and  to  address 
the under-reporting of incidents.

Lack of comparable data across the EU

Surveys on antisemitism have been conducted in few 
EU  Member  States  and  their  results  are  not  compa-
rable,  mainly  because  data  collection  practices  vary. 
EU-wide  population  surveys,  such  as  Eurobarometer, 
sample the general population and Jewish respondents 
form too small a part of their samples to be analysed 
in a robust way. 

The  FRA  has  therefore  decided  to  develop  its  own 
survey  tool  based  on  its  experience  in  surveying 
‘hard-to-reach’  population  groups,  such  as  migrants 
and  ethnic  minorities,  or  lesbian,  gay,  bisexual  and 
transgender people (lgBT). in 2008, the FRA carried out 
an extensive survey across all EU Member States on the 
experiences of discrimination and criminal victimisation 
of  immigrants  and  ethnic  minorities  –  the  European 
Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey (EU-MiDiS). 
in  2011,  the  FRA  also  surveyed  Roma  minorities  in 
11 EU  Member States.

This  survey  will  examine  the  experiences  and  views 
of  those  who  self-identify  as  Jewish  in  selected 
EU    Member  States,  focusing  on  their  experiences  of 
antisemitism, discrimination in key areas of social life, 
hate  crime  and  hate  speech,  awareness  of  rights  and 
legal remedies, and feelings of safety.

Methodology

The  project  will  consist  of  a  standardised  online 
questionnaire  and  will  sample  350  to  1,500  respond-
ents,  women  and  men,  in  nine  selected  EU  Member 
States.  The  countries  will  be  selected  based  on  the 
estimated  size  of  their  Jewish  populations  and/or 
to  ensure  coverage  of  various  regions  of  the  EU,  to 
reflect historical developments and their effects on the 
communities surveyed.   

one  of  the  challenges  of  this  project  is  the  difficulty 
in  reaching  the  respondents.  The  survey  is  there-
fore  designed  to  proceed  in  two  stages:  As  a  first 
step,  respondent-driven  sampling  will  be  used  to 

reach  potential  survey  respondents.  This  technique 
relies  on  networks  of  eligible  respondents  who  will 
identify  other  eligible  respondents.  it  is  designed  for 
use  specifically  in  surveys  dealing with  hard-to-reach 
populations,  with  the  aim  of  producing  representa-
tive results for the population in question. in a second 
stage, the project will invite all eligible respondents in 
nine  Member  States  to  complete  the  questionnaire  in 
order to ensure a broader coverage.

Stakeholder engagement

Since 2011, the FRA conducted a number of consultations 
with  stakeholders  and  survey  experts  to  identify  the 
issues that the survey should cover. Furthermore, these 
consultations  helped  to  determine  the  types  of  data 
and outputs most needed by various stakeholders. 

The  stakeholders  consulted  include  European  Jewish 
community  organisations,  national  Jewish  communi-
ties, European institutions, international organisations, 
national-level  policy  makers,  and  other  civil  society 
organisations  of  the  EU  Member  States  where  the 
survey will be carried out. 

Outputs

The survey results are expected in 2013. 

Further information:

please visit the FRA website:   
http://fra.europa.eu 

or contact:   
information@fra.europa.eu

Schwarzenbergplatz 11 

 1040 vienna  

 Austria  

 T +43 (1) 580 30 - 0 

 F +43 (1) 580 30 - 699 

 fra.europa.eu 

 info@fra.europa.eu

facebook.com/fundamentalrights 

 twitter.com/EURightsAgency

 FRA – European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights 

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