Insults and harassment at workplace

Alert DateJuly 30, 2008 Country: Portugal Address: Benfica, Lisboa General Type: Racist discourse Racism and discrimination phenomena: Anti-migrant/xenophobia
Groups affected / Interested in: Migrants Key socio-economic/institutional areas: Employment - labour market Hate speech/Racist Discourse Medium: Public Discourse
Victims Data
Victims Nationality/Ethnic Origin Cape Verdean
Victims Gender Female
Victims Age N/A
Victims Number 1
Fatalities - deaths N/A
Perpetrators Data
Perpetrators Nationality/Ethnic Origin Portuguese
Perpetrator Gender Male
Perpetrator Age N/A
Perpetrators Number 1
Extremist/Organised Group Violence No

An exemplary case of racist insults and harassment at the workplace, as the offender is the president of a local authority [Junta de Freguesia], was filed in the NGO SOS Racism and reported by the media. According to the SOS Racism record of complaints, the victim, a Portuguese woman born in Cape-Verde, is a worker at the local authority who was sanctioned with a one-month work suspension allegedly because she accused the president of racism after he had insulted her, calling her a “nigger”. Also, the victim reported that she usually talked in Cape-Verdean Creole with her sister, also an employee, at the workplace, in defiance of the President’s previous strong admonitions against that practice. As reported by the media, the political party Bloco de Esquerda [Left Bloc] organized a demonstration in front of the local authority headquarters in solidarity with the victim and issued a press release  on the situation. The case was reported to the Comissão para a Igualdade e Contra a Discriminação Racial  [Commission for Equality and Against Racial Discrimination] (CICDR) by SOS Racism.


Source:

State Television, 30.07.2008, http://ww1.rtp.pt/noticias/?article=64089&visual=3&layout=10