Netherlands

In January 2021 a draft bill was submitted to the Dutch Parliament with the aim of introducing a criminal provision of general application on aggravating circumstances. Accordingly, when a discriminatory aspect is proven, the maximum term of imprisonment imposed on the offence concerned may be increased by one third. In June 2022, the initiators sent the revised version of the bill to the Dutch Parliament. 

In May 2022, a new State Commission against Discrimination and Racism was established by the Dutch Government. The State Commission is an independent scientific advisory body that will conduct research into discrimination and racism, including hate crimes, in the Netherlands for the next four years, and make recommendations on how to address these issues. The Government has also financed a project for the Police, the Public Prosecution Service and local-level anti-discrimination agencies to consider improvements to the criminal justice approach to hate crimes, and to identify alternative settlements in cases where this approach is less effective.

In October 2021, a National Co-ordinator against Discrimination and Racism (NCDR) was appointed. In 2022, the NCDR presented a comprehensive national programme to strengthen the Dutch approach to counter discrimination. The NCDR works closely together with the different ministries and the National Co-ordinator on Combating Anti-Semitism (NCAB). The NCDR organized town hall sessions with a range of actors to gather input on the national programme.

The Netherlands Police is implementing a pilot project deploying specialist police officers on combating discrimination. The project foresees developing the Centre of Expertise Discrimination (ECAD-P), which is intended to train police officers to better recognize and deal with issues relating to discrimination. It also serves as a national information and knowledge hub for the entire police organization, monitoring external developments and expanding, using and maintaining expertise on discrimination. One of its tasks is to compile an annual report on discrimination figures. The ECAD-P also ensures that knowledge of the approach to tackling discrimination is embedded in police training. ECAD-P advises and shares knowledge – both internally and externally - about discrimination and hate crime cases. ECAD-P works on different levels and on different topics (including on training, tackling discrimination, handling cases, and policymaking).

In a notable hate crime case, a gay man in a centre for asylum seekers in Schalkhaar was physically assaulted and verbally abused by a fellow resident in June 2022. The magistrate sentenced the suspect to a suspended imprisonment of two weeks and 30 hours of community service.

Also in June, a Muslim woman had her headscarf removed and was physically assaulted at a shopping centre in The Hague by another woman. The perpetrator was convicted of assault and fined, and the defendant appealed to the verdict.

In 2022, a sentence was issued in a vandalism case, in which the facade of the office of COC-Netherlands (an LGBTI+ advocacy group) in Rotterdam was covered with graffiti indicating an anti-LGBTI bias. Two of four the suspects were prosecuted for vandalism, and prosecutors demanded a higher sentence due to the discriminatory aspect. As a result, one perpetrator was sentenced to 40 hours of community service.