Decision on anti-discrimination protection

Resolution of the State Advisory Council for Participation dated 08.07.2024

The State Advisory Council for Participation has decided:

Strengthen anti-discrimination protection and strategy based on the LADG in times of right-wing extremism, racism and anti-Semitism for indivisible cohesion across departments in Berlin!

Members of the Berlin Senate are invited to

1. to strengthen anti-discrimination protection in the wording of the anti-discrimination categories listed in Sections 2 and 3 LADG in times of increasing right-wing, racist and anti-Semitic violence, discrimination and danger across ministries in connection with project funding!

2. Implement the politically urgently needed anti-discriminatory protection by the Senate in accordance with the applicable LADG.

3. To take responsibility for the efficient implementation of the LADG and to urgently strengthen the staffing of the LADG Ombudsman's Office.

4. In accordance with Section 17 (1) PartMigG, to involve the State Advisory Council as an advisory and supporting body at an early stage so that it can exercise its right to be involved in projects, measures and programs of the Berlin Senate. This applies in particular to the currently negotiated projects relating to the introduction of the so-called “anti-discrimination clause” and to the introduction of the State Democracy Promotion Act.

Justification

As members of the Advisory Council for Participation, we are alarmed by the shift in society to the right and increasing far-right violence and discrimination in the form of racist, anti-Semitic and other forms of group-related misanthropy, including in its intersectional manifestations. The motion and demands 1 to 4 arise against the background of the following problem situation:
Anti-democratic forces, anti-immigrant agitation and the brutalization of public discourse promote a climate of social division. We all the more urgently need and demand a decisive and non-partisan commitment by all democratic parties for a defensive democracy that protects the most vulnerable population groups in particular from far-right politics and discrimination: These are victims of racism, anti-Semitism and other forms of group-related misanthropy. There is a need for a consistent and overall political strategy for anti-discrimination, to promote democratic participation and social cohesion.

Tatmotive 2023. Source: Berliner Register (online: https://www.berliner - register.de/artikel/evaluation-fur-2023-Berliner-Register-Hass-im-Netz-zu-Hass-auf- der-Straße-556/. Z.a. 10.06.2024)

The Berlin registries, which count punishable and reported discrimination under criminal liability or in the area of propaganda offenses, document a dangerous increase across all dimensions of discrimination for the year 2023 and count 5,286 incidents for Berlin alone (4156 cases were documented in the comparative period of 2022). In the fields of racism, anti-Semitism and LGBTIQ* hostility, the number of incidents reached their highest levels so far. The registry offices count reported cases. However, discrimination, threats and insults that do not lead to physical attacks are rarely reported and are therefore statistically documented. We know this from scientific research, which is why it can be assumed that the number of unreported cases is much higher. Based on the reported figures, we therefore find that an average of 14 people per day in Berlin report experiences of discrimination!

These monitoring results reflect the social climate of hate speech and social division in which violent crimes occur. The risk situation shown is in line with the following figures from the Reachout victim counseling center, which include criminal attacks. They too warn of a threatening increase in violent crime plus coercion and threats in 2023. In Berlin alone, they count 355 attacks in which at least 450 people - 34 of them children and 25 adolescents - were “injured, threatened, hunted and spat on.” It should also be noted that 26 of the 188 racist attacks were anti-Muslim (in the same period. There were 13 attacks in 2022). 14 were directed against Rome:Nja and Sinti:zze (2022:6) and 22 against black people (2022:31). Racist attacks against actual or alleged Muslims, Romn:yes and Sint:Ezzi rose by 50%. 93 attacks were directed against LGBTIQ people. 26 cases involved anti-Semitic attacks. There were also attacks on homeless people and political opponents by right-wing extremists. In addition, there are the documentation from RIAS (Research and Information Center for Anti-Semitism) and Claim (Alliance against Islamophobia) for Berlin: RIAS counts 1,270 anti-Semitic incidents (50% more than in 2022) and Claim counts 380 anti-Muslim/Islamophobic incidents for 2023. Claim also refers to the dark field of unreported but experienced violence and discrimination. According to the figures, the normalization of all discrimination as described by LADG is taking on a locally dangerous and sometimes life-threatening extent. Those affected urgently need protection, which should serve as a guiding principle in all political debates, particularly in security, education and cultural policy. The protection of vulnerable groups, as defined by LADG so far, should be the basis of all political measures.

With the LADG, Berlin has passed an innovative law to strengthen anti-discriminatory measures since 2020. The special feature of LADG also lies in the fact that it makes discrimination addressable in its intersectional entanglement, and this is urgently needed from the point of view of the State Advisory Council: The figures prove the bitter reality that anti-Semitism is increasing in this country. Attacks on Muslim, black, queer or people read as Rome:Nja or Sinti:zze are also currently increasing. In this situation, the LADG is the only reliable legal basis for implementing anti-discrimination protection in Berlin in accordance with the complexity of discrimination realities.

In view of this described dangerous situation for social groups affected by anti-Semitic, racist and other group-related misanthropy, the State Advisory Council generally welcomes the Berlin Senate's cross-departmental move to legally review anti-discriminatory measures. Within this framework, the State Advisory Council and its interest groups call for all measures to be carried out exclusively on the basis of the applicable LADG and to implement the requirements set out above.