Discrimination and victimisation of minorities in Spain: The research potential of the EU-MIDIS project

Abstract

This article highlights the research potential of the European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey (EU-MIDIS), which the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights had conducted twice across Europe by 2021. It begins with an overview of the EU-MIDIS project before concentrating on the second survey (EU-MIDIS II) conducted in 2015 and 2016 (N=25,500), the database of which is available in open access. The paper focuses on the main findings of the EU-MIDIS II in Spain, where the sample was composed of migrants from North Africa and people of Roma ethnicity (N=1,563). The main findings of the survey provide helpful insights into a form of victimisation that is usually absent in official criminal statistics, yet the Spanish EU-MIDIS II database is a mine of information waiting to be exploited. This article proposes a series of analyses that could be performed, including logistic and ordinal regression, as well as mediation modelling, which could identify the variables that influence minorities’ discrimination and victimisation. Finally, the strengths and weaknesses of the EU-MIDIS project are discussed.