Between 2000 and 2006, Germany was befallen by a series of nine murders committed against small business owners of Turkish and Greek origin. These crimes, in addition to a bomb attack in Cologne in 2004 and the murder of a police officer in 2007, were perpetrated by a right-wing extremist group, which called itself the NSU (National-Socialist Underground).

In the ensuing murder investigations, state authorities failed to recognise the crimes’ racist motives, as well as their connection to a right-wing extremist terror cell. The German Bundestag appointed an inquiry committee in January 2012 to investigate the case. After over a year and a half of analysis, the committee plan to publish their final report on 3 September 2013.

A similar series of events took place in the UK following the murder of Stephen Lawrence. Lawrence, a black British man, was stabbed to death in London in 1993 because of his skin colour. The police work which ensued was sloppy and characterised by institutional racism; moreover, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service neglected to investigate the possibility of a racist motive. A public inquiry was then ordered, to be led by Sir William Macpherson. The Macpherson inquiry’s report included a series of recommendations on how to combat institutional racism in the police. These have been implemented extensively in the UK.

The Bureau for the Implementation of Equal Treatment is committed to learning from the experience gained in the UK. Similar patterns of institutional and structural racism in the police are present in Germany, and must be dealt with. In order to achieve this goal, BUG has prepared information for the German context on the basis of the Stephen Lawrence case, and made it available to the NSU inquiry. Furthermore, we have proposed draft recommendations for the inquiry.

On the 22nd of August 2013, the NSU inquiry published its report. It is available here. BUG has published a press release on this.

Here you will find the 47 recommendations of the NSU inquiry which BUG plans to analyse in the near future. (only available in German)

As part of a report, the NSU Committee Thuringia commented on and analysed 'right-wing extremism and action of authorities'. (only available in German)