Racial discrimination remains the most widespread reason for unequal treatment in Belgium, according to a new report.

In 2022, 7,310 people reported that they felt being discriminated, mostly based on their origin, health situation or handicap,” Interfederal Center for Equal Opportunities (Unia), an anti-discrimination body, said in its yearly report.
The independent public body opened 1,887 investigations following the complaints.
With 735 cases representing 38% of all probes, racial criteria – namely national or ethnic origin, skin color, citizenship, ancestry, and racial assumptions – “remained the number 1 cause for discrimination,” the report said.
According to the complaints, most of these discriminations occurred in the domain of services and goods, mostly related to housing, in social spaces, especially in public offices, and at workplaces by interaction with colleagues or clients.
The report said that some kind of forbidden behavior was committed in 1,961 cases last year.
Direct or indirect discrimination was found in 68% of the cases, while both hate speech and hate crime amounted to 16%.