BERLIN, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Requests for advice to the German government's anti-discrimination office soared by 22 percent in 2023 to a record high of almost 11,000, according to the annual report published by the agency on Tuesday.
"Our case numbers show an alarming trend," said Independent Federal Commissioner for Anti-Discrimination Ferda Ataman. "More people than ever before are directly experiencing the increasing social polarization and radicalization," she said.
Most of the requests for advice, around 3,400, were about racial discrimination, followed by discrimination related to disability and chronic diseases as well as gender or gender identity with around 2,000 requests each, according to the report.
"The situation is serious. 'Foreigners out' sentiment and contempt for humanity have become normal these days," warned Ataman. She called on the government to quickly tackle the election promise to reform the General Equal Treatment Act.
In recent months, there has repeatedly been considerable media attention on citizens who take an openly xenophobic stance. A video of a group of young Germans who performed a racist rendition of the lyrics of a song named L'amour Toujours while making illegal Nazi gestures caused a particular outcry.
Germany is also seeing an increase in discriminatory tendencies in anti-Jewish incidents. According to the annual report of the RIAS association, also published on Tuesday, the number of such incidents jumped by 80 percent to almost 4,800 last year, fueled by the escalation of the Middle East conflict.
"Anti-Semitic ideas range from the far left to the far right and into the center of society," said Daniel Botmann, managing director of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. "Only if we name this clearly can we fight against it," he emphasized. ■
