Written question No. 725 to the Committee of Ministers | Doc. 14414 | 11 October 2017
Rising xenophobia, racism and Islamophobia in the Netherlands against Muslims
The rise of xenophobia, racism and Islamophobia in the Netherlands against Muslims constitutes a major source of concern. While the number of reported attacks with xenophobic, racist and Islamophobic motives against the Turkish community living in the Netherlands was eight in 2013, it increased twice in 2016. Verbal attacks have further created an environment of fear for Muslims in this country. Recently, on September 2, 2017, in the Dutch town of Venlo, an extreme right group called “Identitair Verzet” violated the integrity of a Mosque in construction by hanging banners full of hate speech. This incident was documented by the Netherlands State Television, NOS.
Increasing use of hate speech in political discourse is another populist trend that urgently needs to be addressed in today’s Europe. Even in the Parliamentary Assembly, which has earned the honour of being the house of democracy, the rule of law and human rights, we regretfully witnessed such discourse: one Assembly member from the Netherlands, on 26 June 2015, during the Assembly part-session, resorted to hate speech targeting Islam and the Quran.
Mr Küçükcan
To ask the Committee of Ministers,
What concrete actions does the Committee plan to take to urge the Dutch government to curb this alarming trend and to prevent and prosecute such hateful acts of xenophobia, racism and Islamophobia?
In this context, will the Committee call on ECRI to monitor xenophobic, racist and Islamophobic trends in the Netherlands under the framework of its next monitoring cycle and instruct it to update its policy recommendation on Islamophobia based on recent developments in Europe?