Nadine Osman

Muslims have faced rampant discrimination in Germany, warranting concerted action, ruled the twelve-member independent commission appointed by the government.

“Many of the 5.5 million Muslims in Germany experience marginalisation and discrimination in their day-to-day life, up to and including hatred and violence,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on June 29, after receiving the report.

She vowed that the government would thoroughly “study the report’s findings and recommendations” and work to “fight discrimination and better protect Muslims from exclusion.”

The commission cited data showing that around every other German agreed with anti-Muslim statements, “providing a dangerous breeding ground” for extremist groups.

Even German-born Muslims were widely perceived as “foreign,” while Islam was often presented as a “backward religion,” and women wearing traditional headscarves faced “particularly dramatic forms of hostility.”

In an analysis of popular culture, the report found that nearly 90 per cent of the films the panel watched presented a negative view of Muslims, often associating them with “terror attacks, wars, and oppression of women.”

It noted that the far-right AfD party, currently polling at around 20 per cent nationally, had an explicitly anti-Muslim platform. The commission recommended the government create a task force to address bias against Muslims and a central clearinghouse to collect complaints.

Furthermore, training was needed at daycare centres and schools, police stations, government offices, media outlets, and entertainment companies to combat the negative image of Muslims, while textbooks and lesson plans should be overhauled.

It said that crime statistics were beginning to show a more accurate picture of anti-Muslim attacks but acknowledged that many went unreported.

Former Interior Minister Horst Seehofer established the commission in 2020 following an anti-Muslim shooting spree in the central city of Hanau by a far-right extremist. The attack claimed 11 lives.

The attack shocked the country and prompted human rights NGOs to raise concerns about anti-Muslim sentiment in Germany.

Saba-Nur Cheema, one of the 12 experts on the panel, said the report also revealed details about prejudice towards Muslims that she called “anonymous and subtle”.

“According to the report, almost half of the population in Germany believes Islam does not belong to Germany… or one-third of the population felt alienated [in Germany] because of the Muslims living here,” she said.

Moreover, Cheema said the report found that some 40 percent of people in the country would not accept a Muslim mayor. The expert said such attitudes affect the everyday lives of Muslims in the country.

“It’s something which we call structural discrimination – where Muslims are excluded from employment and/or when they look for housing.”