Ferda Ataman: Alarming discrimination in Germany

The German government’s anti-discrimination commissioner has presented its annual report. Ataman’s critics took the opportunity to once again cast doubt on their suitability.

Ferda Ataman, here after her election to the German Anti-Discrimination Commissioner on July 7th in the Bundestag.

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All in all, the German government employs more than forty federal commissioners. One could therefore speak of a rampant agency system, especially since the number of positions has risen sharply since the turn of the millennium. Only very few officers are known to a broader public.

Ferda Ataman is an exception: When the Bundestag elected the 42-year-old political scientist to her office at the beginning of July, this was accompanied by a great deal of argument, polemics and hostilities: Ataman’s critics saw her as a typical representative of a current characterized by her opponents with a America’s imported term is referred to as identity politics; the opposition Christian Democrats rejected the proposal, but some Ataman from the ranks of the co-governing Liberals also refused to vote.

The pandemic caused the number of cases to rise

The attention paid to the representative on Tuesday at the presentation of the anti-discrimination agency’s annual report was correspondingly high. The fight against discrimination is not only for minorities, even if it is dismissed by some as identity politics, said Ataman. This could be taken as a response to their critics; Otherwise, the former journalist appeared deliberately sober, even if the pauses in speaking that she made in order to do justice to the gender language may have already infuriated some of her opponents.

A total of 5617 cases of discrimination were reported in 2021, according to the report. Most (37 percent) went back to actual or perceived racism. Discrimination on the grounds of disability and chronic illness came in second with 32 percent of the reported cases. In 20 percent of the cases, those seeking advice felt disadvantaged because of their gender.

In 2020, 6383 cases were recorded, which means a decrease of 12 percent for 2021. Still, Ataman sees discrimination as a growing problem. The lower total number can be attributed to the fact that there were fewer complaints in connection with the corona pandemic – for example because of the mask requirement.

The number of inquiries about all other types of discrimination remained high. This is alarming, but also shows that more and more citizens do not put up with discrimination, said Ataman. She advised victims of discrimination to take legal action if necessary.

Renewed criticism from the ranks of the Union

Most of the registered cases of discrimination concern the labor market, explained Ataman. Disadvantages are often not due to bad faith, but to the fact that employers or HR managers hire people who are similar to themselves.

Ataman advocated extending the period during which citizens could object to discrimination. This is currently only eight weeks. This means that German anti-discrimination law is “very weak” in international comparison. Experts are in favor of a period of one year, said the officer.

Ataman’s critics took the opportunity on Tuesday to once again raise doubts about their suitability: The annual report shows that there are still major challenges, said Alexander Throm, the domestic policy spokesman for the Union faction in the Bundestag. However, the anti-discrimination officer ignores phenomena such as racism among migrants and Islamist-motivated anti-Semitism.

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