THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
Germany’s Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency handled more cases in 2025 than at any point in its history, with racist and antisemitic incidents accounting for the single largest share — and the country’s chief equality watchdog warning that prejudice is now being expressed more openly and more aggressively than at any point in recent memory.
Germany’s Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency (Antidiskriminierungsstelle des Bundes, ADS) registered 13,067 consultation requests in 2025 — a 15 percent rise on the previous year and the highest caseload since the body was established.
The figures, published in the agency’s annual report on 2 June 2026, show that the total number of complaints has nearly doubled over the past five years, with 2025 marking the fifth consecutive annual increase.
Racial discrimination remained the most common reason for complaints, accounting for 43 per cent of all reported cases, or 4,571 incidents. Complaints ranged from racist insults and unequal treatment in workplaces to discrimination in housing, healthcare and everyday interactions. Federal Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Ferda Ataman warned that racist attitudes in Germany are becoming “more entrenched” and increasingly expressed openly, adding that the psychological burden on those affected had grown considerably.
At the report’s launch in Berlin, she described the published figures as representing only the visible portion of a far wider problem: the majority of those who experience discrimination never seek outside help.
Discrimination linked to disability or chronic illness represented the second-largest category, accounting for 27 per cent of complaints (3,015 cases). Gender-based discrimination followed at 22 per cent, while age discrimination made up 12 per cent of cases. Complaints related to religion and belief accounted for seven per cent, and discrimination based on sexual identity represented around four per cent.
The workplace remained the primary setting for reported discrimination, generating 3,600 enquiries related to issues such as biased job advertisements and rejected applications. Access to goods and services, including housing, restaurants and healthcare, was the second most common context. For many affected individuals, the consequences extend beyond emotional distress, often limiting employment opportunities, access to accommodation and participation in public life
One in four of all cases handled by the agency involved alleged discrimination by public authorities, a category that falls entirely outside the scope of Germany’s General Equal Treatment Act (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, AGG) of 2006. Ataman has long called for the law to be extended to cover state actors, and used the 2025 report to renew her demand for a far-reaching reform of the AGG.
Alongside coverage of public bodies, she called for a minimum twelve-month window to bring claims, compared to the current two months, class-action style litigation rights for advocacy organisations, and explicit protections against AI-driven discrimination, including automated screening of job applications. The Federal Cabinet approved a limited AGG amendment in early May extending the claims window to four months, which Ataman described as wholly inadequate.
The German Turkish Community and the Caritas welfare association both echoed calls for substantive rather than cosmetic reform, with Caritas warning that politically charged public debate was generating new and intensified discrimination, falling disproportionately on the most vulnerable.
Eva Andrades of the Anti-Discrimination Association pointed to the structural barriers facing complainants: the burden of proof rests almost entirely on individuals, compensation awards typically range from just €500 to €1,000, and the four-month deadline leaves little time for those experiencing trauma to organise a legal challenge.
For the African diaspora and other migrant communities in Germany, the data confirm a deteriorating environment, with racially motivated cases not merely rising but accelerating — a trend that demands legislative action commensurate with its scale. While the record number of complaints paints a troubling picture, experts also view the growing willingness to report discrimination as evidence that more people are refusing to accept unequal treatment in silence. In a diverse society shaped increasingly by migration, the challenge for Germany will be translating legal commitments to equality into everyday reality.
Vivian Asamoah
