Bundesminister Alexander Dobrindt (CDU) dismissed criticism that the publication of a study on racism in federal agencies had been mishandled. He told RTL and ntv on Wednesday that the findings had already been communicated to the affected authorities. “Both the Federal Police and the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) have already issued statements that have been published and are publicly available. There is a transparent dialogue with this study – which is not a federal government study – and it is openly available” he said.
The study was commissioned during the penultimate legislative period and has now been published by the Interior Ministry. According to Dobrindt, there is no possibility of withholding the report. “You must treat a study the same way if you did not commission it yourself” he added. He emphasized that the study shows the “overwhelming majority” of employees in government bodies are highly professional, dedicated and behave correctly.
The “Institutionen und Rassismus” (InRa) study gave researchers unprecedented access to state institutions over three years. They examined racism in job centres, youth offices, and migration agencies. The final report shows that racial discrimination exists in all examined institution types. It manifests in individual attitudes, official practices, discretionary decisions, and the handling of complaints. Racism in German authorities rarely appears as overt hostility; it is embedded in routines, decision leeway and organisational culture.
On a structural level the report points to gaps in the legal framework that facilitate discrimination. The General Equal Treatment Act (AGG) currently does not cover the relationship between authorities and citizens, so those discriminated by a state institution cannot invoke the central anti‑discrimination law.