October 15, 2013
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) has released a fourth report on the Netherlands. The third cycle of the report was released in 2008, and this most recent report covers the situation until March 2013.
With respect to Muslims, the ECRI notes that while discriminatory incidents against Muslims appear to have decreased, reported offences against individuals of Moroccan heritage have increased, and online discriminatory statements largely concern Muslims (and Jews). The ECRI further called on Dutch authorities to oppose manifestation of anti-Muslim sentiment in politics and to “refrain from promoting debate on policies that have as their main objective the polarization of Dutch society around issues of relevance to Muslim communities”.
Full ECRI report: http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/ecri/country-by-country/netherlands/NLD-CbC-IV-2013-039-ENG.pdf
