ISLAMOPHOBIA REPORT

ISLAMOPHOBIA IN Netherlands
their faith and race. He will also receive obligatory treatment at a psychiatric hospital.
Shortly after the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris, he had sent letters to five
mosques in Utrecht with insults, death threats and threats of arson. He also included
pieces of pork in the letters.
8 October
Eight people were given fines between 350 and 450 Euros because of their calls to set
fire to Dutch mosques after similar events in Sweden on New Years’ Eve.
14 October
Six people (one underage) from Zaandam are prosecuted by the police judge for posting
the following text on Facebook: ‘every person engaged in the building of a mosque and
Islamic centre in the neighbourhood Saendelft in Assendelft should be gassed’.
Countering Islamophobia
CSOs have taken initiatives to counter Islamophobia by creating hotlines and notification
sites where victims can report such incidents outside the official system of
anti-discrimination bureaus and the police. Organisations that collect complaints
are the Facebook initiative ‘Meld Islamofobie!’; the Collective against Islamophobia
based in Amsterdam; SPIOR, a platform organisation of Islamic organisations and
mosques in Rotterdam; the Muslim women organisation Al Nisa; and the Turkish
Forum. Other organisations that campaign against Islamophobia are Contact Orgaan
Moslims en Overheid (Contact Body Muslims and Government) and EMCE-
MO. The weblog Republiek Allochtonie has become an important source of information
on Islamophobia in the Netherlands.
The present Monitor Islamophobia project that runs until 2018 in addition to
presenting data and analysis has so far had several practical publicity and policy effects.
Islamophobia is on the agenda in the media, politics and civil society.
The latest report on police data (POLDIS November 2015) shows that several of the
recommendations made after a critical discussion of the system of categorisation and
registration by the police have been implemented. Muslim discrimination is now
integrated as a separate category of discrimination in the police registration system.
Several MPs have raised questions in parliament.
At the request of the liberal political parties D66 and VVD the proposal to integrate
Muslim discrimination as a separate ground of discrimination in municipal and police
categorisation systems has been accepted by the Municipality of Amsterdam. The
municipality has decided to participate in contributing to the costs (50 %) of the
protection of mosques under threat.
For the first time the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights explicitly discusses
Islamophobia and the increase of Muslim discrimination in its annual reports.
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