Executive summary

• Author: Karin de Vries
• Pages: 5-11

5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. Introduction

The Netherlands is a representative democracy premised upon a bicameral system. King

Willem-Alexander is the official head of state. The Government always consists of a

coalition of different political parties, since a multitude of parties are elected to Parliament

and none of them has ever had an absolute majority. The political climate in the

Netherlands in the past 15 years has been influenced considerably by the rise of far right -

wing parties, such as the Party for Fr eedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV). Issues brought

up by such parties, in particular concerning immigration and anti -Islam or anti-terrorism

measures, now dominate political discourse in general. In 2017 a new coalition

Government was formed after a long period of negotiations. It consists of the People’s

Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie, VVD) (liberal),

the Christian Democrats (Christen-Democratisch Appèl, CDA), the Christian Union

(Christenunie, CU) and the Democrats 66 (Democraten 66, D66).

The Netherlands is party to all the major international agreements relevant to combating

discrimination, including the European Convention on Human Rights (including Protocol

No. 12), the International Covenan t on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Opti onal

Protocol to the Covenant, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural

Rights (ICESCR), the I nternational Convention on th e Eliminat ion of All Forms of Racial

Discrimination (ICERD), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrim ination

Against Women (CEDAW), including the Optional Protocol to this Convention, the

Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons

with Disabilities (CRPD). The latte r was ratified in 2016 and upon ratification the scope of

the Disability Dis crimination Act (DDA) was extended. The ab ove-mentioned instruments

constitute part of the domesti c legal order after they have been publis hed in the official

Law Gazette and can be applied directly by domestic courts if the provision concerned is

sufficiently clear and precise.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands has the second highest population density in the European

Union, after Malta. People of immigrant origin predominantly come from Turkey, Morocco,

Suriname and the Dutch Antilles (although people from the Dutch Antilles cannot really be

described as ‘immigrants’, they are nevertheless often perceived or treated as such). Th e

main religions a re Rom an Cat holic 24 %, Protestant 15 %, Muslim 5 %, other 6 % and

none 51 % (2017).1

2. Main legislation

International law: the Constitution bar s the Dutch Supreme Court from exercising

Constitutional review of formal statutory acts. However, the Netherlands ad heres to a

‘monist theory’ of international law. This means that the Dutch courts can apply

international standards of equal treatment and non-discrimination directly, including when

it concerns statutory acts.

The Constitution: a non-discrimination clause is contained in Article 1 of the Dutch

Constitution. It covers the grounds of religion, philosophy of life, political convictions, race

and sex, as well as ‘any other ground’.2 This article can be invoked by an individual

applicant against actions by the Government and by private institutions and can also be

invoked between individuals.

1 Netherlands Statistics (2018), Wie is religieus en wie niet? (Who is religious and who is not?), see

www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/achtergrond/2018/43/wie-is-religieus-en-wie-niet.

2 ‘Any other ground’ includes age, disability and sexual orientation. These grounds are expressly protected in

the statutory equal treatment acts which have been adopted to implement the constitutional non-

discrimination clause.