A survey conducted in December 2003 found that sixty-five percent of Germans claim that Islam could not fit with the West and that the majority opposes any new immigration and would feel uncomfortable living in a neighborhood with Muslims.63 This apparent discomfort is supported by the rapidly rising numbers of Turks in Germany who feel they are being discriminated against.64
The murder of Theo van Gogh in the Netherlands in November 2004 also seemed to spark violence in Germany. There were a number of assaults and several mosques were targeted by arson. Foreigners, including Muslims, face the threat of physical violence, especially, but not exclusively, in the Eastern parts of Germany. The number of Muslim victims of criminal acts has not been counted by any official statistics. However, several anti-discrimination NGOs chronicle, and assemble reports on racist attacks against foreigners in general. Furthermore, a Muslim human rights group in Duisburg (HDR) has published a report on unreported cases of racist attacks against foreigners, including Muslims.65
The EU Monitoring Centre for Racism and Xenophobia reported in 2006 that 70% of non-Muslim Germans thought that there was a conflict between being a devout Muslim and living in modern society.66 German survey respondents indicated much more negative views about Muslims than survey respondents in France, Spain, or the United Kingdom.
There is also growing criticism of the representation of Islam in schoolbooks, which often transport generalizations and discriminations and support negative prejudices. The Islamic Council held a conference about cooperating with the state in order to confront stereotypes in schoolbooks.67 New material about the Islamic world for schoolbooks is currently being developed by the German Georg-Eckert-Institute.68
Muslims often feel discriminated against in their everyday life as they face direct and indirect discrimination in the fields of employment, education, and the housing marked. Direct discrimination, like the denial of access to bars, restaurants, clubs and discotheques, is also common. And discrimination on the part of the state, especially the police and in court has also been reported.
Discrimination against foreign employees, including Muslims, in the labor market is well-documented. A survey of the EUMC found that the employment market is highly segmented between non-migrant and migrant groups.69 Differences exist between natives and immigrants in Germany in the fields of earnings, participation, and employment in general. Discrimination can be regularly observed in newspaper and internet advertisements (“German native speakers only,” “Germans Only,” “No Headscarves,” etc.). However, levels of discrimination are more significant in semi-skilled jobs than in qualified ones, although the commercial, insurance, and banking sectors discriminate tremendously against Turkish aspirants.70 Discriminations against foreigner employees, including Muslims, in the German labor marked have been repeatedly reported by the ILO.71
One of the highest, most institutionalized and widely accepted levels of public discrimination can be observed in the housing marked. Some unequal treatment of people is permitted by law, as with landlords who are allowed to refuse to take non-German tenants when they feel this is necessary to balance socio-cultural mixture in houses and neighborhoods. The German Centre for Studies on Turkey (Zentrum für Türkeistudien) has found that among reported discriminatory experiences, 15% take place in the field of the housing sector.72
Various cases of discrimination happen in state institutions. Over one third of the cases of discrimination are experienced within the field of public authorities, such as the “Ausländeramt,” the “Sozialamt,” the “Standesamt,” and the “Arbeitsamt.”73 Cases of discrimination by the police have also been reported.74 Young policemen in Berlin, however, are now trained to look at immigrants just as they look at Germans with no immigrant background.75 Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International highlight violations of human rights by German State organizations against foreigners, including Muslims, on a regular basis. The Federal Commissioner on Integration stated in 2005 that this discriminatory behavior of official institutions violated the Imperative of Equal Treatment (Gleichbehandlungsgebot) and the Constitution.76
Finally, Muslim children often face discrimination at schools. According to Kornmann, Baden-Württemberg is the federal state with by far the worst levels of discrimination against foreign children and young people.77 Foreign children in BW were found to have an almost 3.5 times higher risk of attending a special school for children with learning disabilities than German children. In addition to younger students, discrimination is also found at universities.78
In 2006 Germany adopted the General Law on Equal Treatment (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz), which transposes four different EU directives.79 Anti-discrimination groups had demanded the adoption of an anti-discrimination law for a long time, and the EU had been demanding one for three years. The European Court of Justice condemned Germany because of its refusal to adopt the law in February 2006. The new law has been criticized as being weak in various points, such as in still allowing property managers to refuse non-German tenants when they are concerned about an imbalanced social or cultural mixture in houses or neighborhoods.
Several German cities, including Berlin, have offered to establish anti-discrimination offices (Leitstelle gegen Diskriminierung). Apart from this, few initiatives exist which addres discrimination against Muslims, while several initiatives do exist to help foreigners,especially Turks (again, immigrants are not identified by their faith in this respect). However, “Aktion Courage,” an NGO that supports the integration of foreigners in Germany, launched a campaign in 1999 for the “integration of Muslims and Muslim organizations in Germany.” Another major initiative is “Schule ohne Rassismus” (School without racism), which is a project organized by and for pupils to confront discrimination and racism.
http://www.euro-islam.info / Germany link
