A delegation of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) visited the Netherlands from 1 to 6 July 2018 as the first step in the preparation of a monitoring report. During its visit, ECRI’s delegation gathered information on legislation, hate speech, violence, integration policies and LGBT issues.

The delegation held meetings in The Hague and Amsterdam with representatives of the government, regional and local authorities, international organisations, equality bodies, as well as members of the civil society.

Following this visit, ECRI will adopt a report to be published in 2019 in which it will make a fresh set of recommendations on measures to be taken by the authorities to address racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, antisemitism, and intolerance in the country. Among these, two will be revisited in two years’ time as part of an interim follow-up procedure.

In its 2013 report, ECRI highlighted, among other concerns, high discrimination rates in the field of employment and several aspects of the 2013 law on integration, which put the responsibility for integration fully on those who seek to settle in the Netherlands and pursued a one-size-fits-all approach.