Better data on hate crimes would enable governments to draw up more effective anti-discrimination policies, the European Union's Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) said Wednesday. In its 2009 annual report, the Vienna-based body said that poor data collection was 'hampering effective policies'. Of the EU's 27 member states, only 12 countries collected 'sufficiently robust criminal justice data on racist violence and crime to allow for a trend analysis of the problem,' the report said. 'Governments should put in place improved data collection systems, specifcally on hate crimes,' FRA managing board chief Anastasia Crickley told a news conference. The agency said there had been an increase in the number of reported cases of discrimination last year in Austria, Britain, Ireland, Poland and Sweden. By contrast, the number of reported cases decreased in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany and Slovakia. 'We have a dramatic under-reporting' of discrimination, said FRA director Morten Kjaerum. 'What we see in the statistics is only the tip of the iceberg. A number of victims out there are not getting redress, a number of perpetrators where there is de facto impunity and policy-makers who don't know the real scenario and therefore may be not sufficently equipped to make targeted and focussed legislation,' Kjaerum said. According to an EU-MIDIS (minorities and discrimination) survey last year, around 37 percent of people belonging to an ethnic minority felt they had been the victim of discrimination in the past 12 months, and 4.0 percent said they had been threatened or attacked physically. The survey showed that the majority of people were unaware of their rights: only 39 percent of those minorities interviewed were aware of a law that forbids discrimination against people on the basis of ethnicity when applying for a job, FRA said. And only 20 percent knew of an organisation that offered support or advice to people who have been discriminated against. 'There is an urgent need for better information. Most victims of discrimination are not aware that what is being done to them is illegal,' said FRA director Kjaerum. 'At the same time, many do not know how or where to file a complaint. As a consequence, the dark figure of discrimination is extremely high. Governments have an obligation to inform everyone of their rights, and ensure access to justice in practice, not just on paper'. 