GFoD submits input for EU Anti-Racism strategy, makes key recommendations

The Global Forum of Communities Discriminated on Work and Descent (GFoD) and European Roma Grassroots Organisation (ERGO) urged the European Union to confront a form of racism that, though centuries old, remains largely unacknowledged in modern policy: discrimination based on work and descent. In its submission to the EU's ongoing consultation on the Anti‑Racism Strategy, GFoD contends that structural hierarchies tied to inherited status, ancestral occupation and caste‑like divisions still dictate life chances for millions of people in Europe.

By failing to name and tackle this phenomenon, the Forum warns, the Union risks leaving some of the continent's most marginalised residents outside the protections and opportunities promised by its human‑rights framework.

The submission defines discrimination based on work and descent—abbreviated DWD—as any social or institutional barrier arising from the accident of birth. Whether rooted in caste in South Asia, slavery in West Africa or antigypsy stereotypes across the continent, the mechanism is the same: a rigid linkage between lineage, “pollution” taboos and the types of labour deemed acceptable for a given group. Globally, more than 260 million people live under such strictures, and the consequences reach far beyond the workplace. Segregated schooling, ghettoised housing, obstacles to healthcare and violence in public life combine to produce intergenerational poverty and social isolation that economic growth alone has not lifted.

In Europe, the Roma people—estimated at ten to twelve million—form the largest community affected by DWD. The Forum notes that antigypsyism remains pervasive despite decades of integration initiatives. Roma pupils are still shunted into substandard or segregated classrooms, curbing educational attainment from an early age. Adults often face de facto exclusion from formal labour markets, channeled instead into poorly paid, insecure work. The housing picture is equally stark, with many families consigned to overcrowded settlements lacking basic services. The cumulative effect is an entrenched cycle of disadvantage that wider anti‑poverty measures have proved unable to break without targeted, rights‑based intervention.

Smaller yet significant Dalit diaspora communities from South Asia experience parallel forms of exclusion. In the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere, caste markers—names, dialect, social networks—can quietly determine hiring decisions, access to apprenticeships and even the choice of neighbourhoods in which migrants feel safe to settle. These pressures are compounded by racial prejudice, turning what should be a fresh start into a continuation of inherited stigma on European soil. Although Britain's Equality Act and some municipal ordinances have begun to acknowledge caste discrimination, the Forum argues that the absence of a clear EU‑level stance leaves gaps in protection and dilutes enforcement.

The Haratine diaspora, originating largely from Mauritania and other parts of North and West Africa, is even less visible in European debates. Descended from historically enslaved communities, many Haratines remain trapped in social roles tied to domestic service, agriculture or other low‑status work.

Their marginal position is reinforced by migration status, language barriers and the persistence of attitudes that equate their lineage with servitude. Because the EU's existing anti‑racism instruments seldom reference descent, these forms of bias are often logged, if at all, under broader categories such as racial or ethnic discrimination, masking the specific lineage‑based dynamic at play.

Discrimination based on work and descent is rarely experienced in isolation. Gender, age, migration status and poverty intertwine to produce layered exclusion. Roma, Dalit and Haratine women, for instance, face distinctive vulnerabilities: higher exposure to gender‑based violence, reduced access to sexual and reproductive health services, and disproportionate responsibility for unpaid care. When such women seek legal redress, they frequently confront intersecting stereotypes that discredit their testimony or minimise the harm they suffer. Yet most national gender‑equality plans, the Forum observes, overlook caste and descent, depriving affected women of holistic protection.

Against this backdrop, GFoD positions itself as a bridge‑builder. Founded as a solidarity platform among Roma, Dalit, Haratine and other similarly stigmatised peoples, the Forum coordinates research, leadership training and collective advocacy. It has helped representatives from structurally marginalised castes take part in United Nations reviews and in EU dialogues where they were previously absent.

These encounters, it argues, demonstrate that communities long assumed to be “hard to reach” will engage robustly when resources and decision‑making spaces are genuinely shared.

The Forum's submission calls first and foremost for explicit recognition of DWD as a distinct strand of structural racism within every pillar of the EU Anti‑Racism Strategy. By naming the problem, Brussels would signal to Member States that inherited‑status discrimination warrants the same urgency as antisemitism, Islamophobia or anti‑Black racism. Such recognition should flow through funding criteria, policy guidance and monitoring exercises, ensuring that programmes designed to fight racism do not inadvertently sideline those whose oppression is organised around lineage and labour.

A second recommendation is a comprehensive, intersectional approach. The Forum urges EU institutions to mandate that anti‑racism policies be co‑designed with representatives of communities discriminated on work and descent. Including CDWD organisations at the agenda‑setting stage would, it says, prevent well‑meaning initiatives from overlooking real‑world obstacles, such as fear of retaliation when victims report caste‑based harassment in the workplace. Intersectionality also means integrating gender, migration and socioeconomic analysis into every action plan, so that measures aimed at Roma education, for example, address intertwined barriers faced by young Roma girls in rural areas.

Reliable data form another pillar of the proposal. The Forum emphasises that policymakers cannot fix what they do not measure. It therefore advocates systematic collection of disaggregated statistics on DWD, developed with community consent and safeguards for privacy. Accurate figures on school segregation, labour‑market discrimination and hate crimes would allow Brussels and national capitals to set benchmarks, track progress and allocate resources proportionate to need. To convert data into justice, however, the Forum insists that the EU must strengthen legal frameworks, obliging Member States to outlaw descent‑based discrimination explicitly and to provide accessible remedies—including legal aid—for victims.

Financial commitment is equally critical. GFoD recommends that the Union earmark long‑term, easily navigable grants for grassroots organisations working on DWD issues. Short funding cycles, it argues, undermine the very leadership development and policy monitoring that could sustain change. Supported initiatives might range from community‑run early‑childhood centres in segregated Roma settlements to legal clinics assisting Dalit workers who face caste harassment in transnational supply chains. Investment should also extend to public‑awareness campaigns that challenge myths of impurity and promote positive narratives of CDWD contributions to European societies.

Education emerges as a field where targeted action can yield transformative results. The Forum calls for an end to segregated schooling, coupled with anti‑bias training for teachers and whole‑school inclusion strategies. It stresses that inclusion is not merely a question of placing Roma or Dalit children in majority classrooms, but of reshaping curricula to recognise their histories and cultures, thereby fostering mutual respect. In higher education and vocational training, scholarships and mentorships reserved for CDWD youth could help break occupational patterns that have been enforced for generations.

Housing, health and social protection are identified as parallel fronts. To dismantle spatial segregation, the EU should encourage Member States to enforce anti‑discrimination rules in rental and mortgage markets and to invest in decent public housing. Access to healthcare must be broadened through mobile clinics and culturally competent services, especially for itinerant or undocumented members of CDWD communities. Social‑protection schemes should be tailored to reach informal or stigmatised workers who are often excluded from unemployment insurance or pension systems because their labour is done in the shadows.

Beyond Europe's borders, GFoD urges the Union to champion the elimination of DWD in multilateral arenas, aligning its external‑action instruments, trade agreements and development policies with the Sustainable Development Goals. Brussels, the Forum notes, wields significant diplomatic and economic influence that could encourage partner countries to confront caste and descent hierarchies in their own jurisdictions. By supporting international solidarity platforms, the EU can help amplify the voices of communities that have seldom been heard in global debates on equality.

The submission closes on a simple yet far‑reaching premise: no anti‑racism strategy can claim completeness while millions remain shackled by customs dictating whom they may marry, where they may live and what work they may do because of their birth. Recognising, resourcing and rigorously addressing discrimination based on work and descent would mark a decisive step toward the European Union's pledge to leave no one behind. The ball, GFoD implies, is now in the EU's court: the mechanisms to end this form of structural racism exist, but only political will can translate them into lived equality.

Also Read: Double Discrimination: The Systemic Exclusion of Roma Women in Hungary