While Estonia is generally considered a safe place to live, concealed issues, including this one, often go unnoticed, the report, titled "Rassiline diskrimineerimine Eestis 2024" ("Racial Discrimination in Estonia 2024") states.

According to the report, 55 percent of respondents who have a skin color other than white have experienced offensive or derogatory comments in Estonia; 71 percent reported encountering inappropriate stares or offensive gestures related to their skin color.

Christian Veske, the commissioner for gender equality and equal treatment, said: "The most frequently seen experiences from study participants have been harassment or discrimination in public spaces, and also when renting property, applying for jobs, or in the workplace."

"This has also been reported when dealing with the authorities," he went on.

A major issue is the low awareness of racism among the Estonian populace, as this is primarily associated only with incidents of racist language or incidents of racially motivated violence.

Conversely, there is less awareness of the "softer" forms of racism, such as stereotyping, or comments based on appearance.

Many misconceptions about other nationalities, cultures as well as races are also widespread.

The report also draws attention to the role of the media, which can help raise awareness, but can also serve to reinforce stereotypes.

People of different skin colors also tend to enter the public square primarily in relation to conflicts and scandals, which in turn serves to reinforce prejudices, the commissioner noted.

As one positive change, the report highlights that the use of racist language in the media has fallen, and terms which the report says are neutral, such as "black" ("Mustanahaline," literally "black-skinned" and not to be confused with "Mustlane," which is the term for a Romani person – ed.), or also "African-American" ("Afroameeriklane"), are increasingly being used when discussing skin color.

According to Veske, improving the situation further requires both raising awareness and some concrete actions being made by the state.

"Estonia is a party to several international anti-racism agreements, but we still lack a comprehensive anti-racist action plan which would include education, legal reforms, and systemic changes within the public sector," Veske said.

Currently, the law does not always allow the commissioner to intervene in cases of discrimination.

"The commissioner's office can only provide a legal assessment of discrimination," Veske explained.

"However, with the adoption of the EU's directives on equality bodies, the commissioner's office will in the future have the right to go to court on behalf of the victim," he added.

Amassing more precise data on discrimination and hate crimes, as well as a greater focus in education on valuing diversity and raising awareness of incidents of micro-racism, are also considered key, he said.

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