Unia Reports Record Surge in Discrimination Cases, Hails Landmark Legal Wins
Belgium’s inter-federal equal opportunities center, Unia, has reported a significant surge in assistance requests and discrimination reports in its 2025 annual report, while welcoming landmark judicial advances in the fight against discrimination. The organization recorded 8,054 reports leading to 2,066 opened cases — a 13% increase over 2024 and the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to RTBF.
Context
Unia is Belgium’s independent inter-federal equal opportunities center, handling reports of discrimination, hate speech, and hate crimes across the country in all three official languages. The 2025 report comes amid significant political pressure on the institution. The federal government cut 25% of Unia’s budget in 2025, preventing the renewal of 14 fixed-term contracts, while the Flemish government withdrew from Unia in 2023 and created its own Flemish Human Rights Institute (VMRI).
Key Developments
Record Numbers and Rising Demand
Unia received 3,479 concrete requests for assistance in 2025 — an increase of nearly 500 compared to 2024. According to the annual report, more situations now require in-depth support rather than simple information requests or legal advice.
Racial discrimination topped the list with 2,502 reports related to racial criteria, leading to 757 opened cases — 31% of all cases. Numbers have been rising steadily since 2022. Disability discrimination ranked second, particularly in education and inclusive education settings.
“Ces deux éléments, le racisme et le handicap, sont en tête depuis des années des dossiers confiés à l’institution interfédérale,” Unia Co-Director Patrick Charlier told RTBF’s Matin Première. (“These two elements, racism and disability, have been at the top of the files entrusted to the inter-federal institution for years.”)
Landmark Legal Rulings
2025 saw two historic judicial rulings in Belgium. The first was a conviction for “cumulative” (intersectional) discrimination — a Black woman was found to have been discriminated against both because of her skin color and her age, with the employer convicted on both counts. The second was Belgium’s first criminal conviction based exclusively on sexism and homophobia, pronounced by the Brussels Criminal Court in collaboration with the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men.
Anti-Semitism and LGBTQIA+ Violence
While anti-Semitism cases decreased compared to 2024, Unia noted that 70 cases were opened in 2025 — still at a very high level. Charlier stated that the problem is characterized more by hate speech than discrimination, with Jewish people being asked to justify Israeli policy.
Unia recorded 311 reports of discrimination and violence against LGBTQIA+ persons in 2025. According to VRT NWS, 4 out of 10 closed cases involved criminal offenses such as assault and intimidation. Both Unia and the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men described these figures as “just the tip of the iceberg,” noting that studies show nearly 9 out of 10 victims do not report.
Trusted Flagger Status
Unia was recognized as a “trusted flagger” under the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), allowing it to directly flag hate speech to major platforms including Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok. These reports must be treated as priority by the platforms, which are required to act quickly.
Analysis
The surge in reports reflects two complementary trends: greater public awareness of rights and a genuine increase in discrimination. As Charlier noted, there is “une meilleure prise de conscience par le public en général” (better awareness by the general public), leading more people to report. However, the data also reflects persistent discrimination in employment, housing, and online spaces, compounded by the rise of far-right and conservative movements across Europe.
The 25% budget cut by the federal government — led by N-VA Prime Minister Bart De Wever — comes at a time when demand for Unia’s services is at an all-time high. Charlier stated explicitly that “the N-VA’s intention was to dismantle us.” The creation of the separate Flemish Human Rights Institute represents a structural fragmentation of anti-discrimination efforts in Belgium.
Unia’s effectiveness is demonstrated by its success rate: when victims are accompanied by Unia, discrimination is recognized in 70.6% of cases, compared to 36.6% when victims act alone, according to an UCLouvain study supported by the FNRS.
What’s Next
The challenge for Unia now extends beyond the 2025 figures. As Charlier put it: “Mais l’enjeu aujourd’hui pour nous n’est pas tellement ce qui s’est passé en 2025, mais la transmission d’une nouvelle collective où il y aura un nouveau cadre budgétaire. Là on espère être reconnu dans des nouvelles missions.” (“But the challenge for us today is not so much what happened in 2025, but the transmission of a new collective where there will be a new budgetary framework. There we hope to be recognized in new missions.”)
A new European directive on equality bodies, adopted in May 2024, must be transposed into Belgian law by June 2026. This will require revising Unia’s founding cooperation agreement — originally from June 2013 — and potentially restoring its budget to meet expanded mandates. Whether the federal government will restore funding and how the coexistence of Unia and the Flemish Human Rights Institute will affect anti-discrimination efforts remain open questions.