In 2025, more people than ever turned to Germany’s federal anti-discrimination agency for advice. The Independent Federal Commissioner for Anti-Discrimination, Farda Ataman, believes that these people need better legal protection and more support services.
During the presentation of the agency’s 2025 annual report on Tuesday, Ataman stressed that it is not just about protecting minorities.
“Anyone can experience discrimination at some point in their lives,” he said. What matters to him is that “all people in Germany” receive adequate protection.
According to the report, the federal anti-discrimination agency received 13,067 requests for counseling last year — 1,662 more than in 2024, and more than three times as many as in 2019, the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlighting the broader findings of a German socio-economic panel presented a few months ago, Ataman said the numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. According to its report, more than 13% of people in Germany have experienced discrimination in the last 12 months. In total, this equates to about 9 million people – and only a fraction of those affected reported incidents to the federal anti-discrimination agency.
The agency was established in 2006 following the enactment of the General Act on Equal Treatment, which was designed to prevent and eliminate various forms of discrimination set out in German basic law. country’s constitution.
Racism, or discrimination based on a person’s (perceived) ethnic origin, was by far the most common form of discrimination reported to the agency. With 4,571 reports, 43% of all cases were due to racism, a figure that has remained largely stable over the past three years.
The same was true for the second most common form of discrimination reported: discrimination against people with disabilities or chronic illnesses. In 2025, about 28% of cases involved this type of discrimination, a slightly higher percentage than in previous years. About 22% of the cases involved discrimination based on gender or sexual identity, which was slightly lower than in previous years.
Racism ‘not an exclusively German problem’
Deborah Choi, a Berlin-based startup founder and CEO, explains what racial discrimination means concretely. Born in Nigeria, she grew up in the United States before moving to Germany.
“As a black woman, I regularly encounter racism and sexism — whether I’m building a startup or just walking around Berlin,” she said in the report. However, for him, racism “is not a specifically German problem, but a global problem.”
“It takes a lot for a lot of people to have the same opportunities,” he said.
Ataman is an independent commissioner, meaning she does not answer to the federal government and cannot be dismissed by the Chancellor. He was elected by the Bundestag for a five-year term in the summer of 2022. The nomination came from the then federal government, which included the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), the environmentalist Greens and the neoliberal Free Democratic Party.
Ataman is highly critical of the 2006 reform of the Equal Treatment Act, which has been pushed forward by the current federal government, which is composed of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) and the SPD. This is the first significant amendment to the law since it was introduced by the previous CDU/CSU-SPD coalition 20 years ago – passed because the previous SPD/Green government had already signed it into law, not because of political conviction.
Limited resources to fight discrimination in Germany
The Ataman said the existing framework for their work is inadequate and resources – including funding – are very limited. He noted that every other country in Europe invests more in anti-discrimination efforts than Germany.
Citing neighboring Belgium as an example, he said the country allocates €1 per resident to the work of its anti-discrimination agency, totaling about €10 million ($11.6 million). Germany recently allocated €10.4 million for its population of more than 83 million.
But for Ataman, concrete policies are even more important than funding. He said, for example, it is important that Germany extends the period within which victims can take legal action against discrimination. At present the time limit in Germany is two months.
Under the schemes of the current government, it will be extended by four months. But Ataman says EU countries generally allow victims between three and five years of age to file complaints. Only with sufficient time, he said, is it possible for victims to receive thorough legal advice and a proper review of the case.
Furthermore, he said, victims of discrimination by government agencies, officials or employees have been unable to file lawsuits against these agencies since 2006.
“The state should not be given leeway,” she insists.
‘Peaceful coexistence’ needs to be guided by rules
Ataman also raised the issue of what would happen “if it is not a person but a computer program – that is, AI or an algorithm – that discriminates.”
He expects the Bundestag to make significant changes to the government’s draft bill during the upcoming parliamentary session. She herself was barely involved in the process, and the draft bill of the proposed reforms was communicated to her only shortly before it was passed by the federal cabinet.
For more than three years now, more than 120 organizations have been demanding more comprehensive legal protections against discrimination through a coalition called AGG Reform Now! For Ataman, this “unusual alliance, which has never come together like this before,” is a reflection of the society’s “absolute diversity.”
The General Act on Equal Treatment (AGG) is like “a set of traffic rules for peaceful coexistence in Germany”, he said. Discrimination happens all the time, he added – that’s why we need rules that are as effective as the rules governing road traffic.
This article was originally written in German.