ISLAMOPHOBIA REPORT

EUROPEAN ISLAMOPHOBIA REPORT 2015
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In the first month of 2015 the Dutch regional anti-discrimination provisions received
a total of 55 reports of Muslim discrimination.
A newly created community-based hotline ‘Meld Islamofobie!’ received 136
complaints of discriminatory aggression against Muslims in 2015.
In 2015, 142 cases of internet discrimination against Muslims were reported to
the internet discrimination hotline MIND. In January alone, 103 cases were reported
to the hotline MDI, 46 being punishable.
Of the vast number of media releases on topics concerning multiculturalism in
the Dutch press, only a minority reported on Islamophobia, whereas 47 incidents
in different municipalities were reported in relation to the reception of refugees. In
many of these incidents their Muslim background was explicitly referred to.
Twenty seven incidents occurred in nineteen mosques in a number of municipalities
in various parts of the country. Stones, paint and stink bombs were thrown
at mosques, pigs´ heads left behind and threatening letters sent. Two mosques were
occupied by a right extremist group and one mosque was the target of a shooting.
In secondary education, almost two out of three of the 498 school teachers who
participated in a survey, said that they witnessed incidents in their classrooms related
to discrimination of Muslims. They also frequently come across stereotypes of Muslims
among their students and in textbooks.
In politics, Geert Wilders and his PVV (Party for Freedom) again and again
campaigned against Islam/Muslims by means of hateful rhetoric in political speeches,
on websites, in parliamentary questions and motions, and on stickers and leaflets.
Democratic political parties gradually but increasingly take a stance against the
PVV trying to isolate Wilders in the political domain. However, various opinion
polls taken in 2013, 2014 and 2015 have pointed to the PVV as the largest party in
the Netherlands, if elections should have taken place at that point in time.
Three events attracted attention in the legal field. The government submitted a
law ‘partial interdiction of face-covering clothes’ to Parliament. A motion asking the
government to examine the possibilities of an interdiction of Salafist organisations was
accepted in parliament. The PvdD (Party for the Animals) proposed a new draft law
against ritual slaughtering. Four court cases discussed cases of Muslim discrimination.
More and more stakeholders have joined efforts to counter Islamophobia. Organisations
campaign against Islamophobia, carry out research and present data and
information on Islamophobia in the Netherlands. The present Monitor Islamophobia
project at the University of Amsterdam runs until 2018 and has so far had several
practical and policy effects. The Dutch government has increasingly developed policies
to counter Islamophobia in particular and ethnic discrimination in general. In
its annual policy paper on discrimination the government expressed concern about
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