The breakdown below does not include hate speech incidents, including insults, which were recorded separately. The category 'other' in the breakdown below includes incidents that may fall outside the OSCE hate crime definition. The charts below present the total numbers for each bias motivation; disaggregation by the type of crime is available for some bias motivation categories only.
Since 1 July 2025, Article 44bis of the Dutch Criminal Code (CC) has been in effect, creating grounds for increased sentencing for crimes with a discriminatory aspect. In addition to increasing the maximum penalty in cases of discrimination, the purpose of the adopted bill is a codification of the long-standing policy of the Public Prosecutor's Office to ask for higher penalties for discriminatory crimes. The new Article 44bis CC stipulates that the maximum sentence for the underlying offence (vandalism, threats, assault) can be increased by one-third if discrimination played a role in its commission.
In 2024, a new role of quality officer was introduced within the police. ECAD-P, developed and provided a training programme for these officers, focusing on crimes with discriminatory aspects, such as hate crimes.
A notable hate crime case:
In November 2024, riots broke out in Amsterdam after a football match between Ajax (NL) and Maccabi-Tel Aviv (M-TA, Israel), partly due to tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas. Before the match, Maccabi supporters chanted slogans that were perceived as offensive. After the match, people with a (supposed) Jewish background in particular were chased and attacked by groups in the city. The slogans and riots made (inter)national news and led to expressions of disgust and questions from politicians at a national and international level.
Initially focusing on the most serious violent crimes and based on their own investigation, the police have been able to identify several suspects of the riots. A number of them have since been brought to court and convicted (discrimination). About 50 incidents have been officially reported, both against Palestinian sympathizers and M-TA supporters. Eight reports concern discriminatory statements made by M-TA supporters. It is not yet clear whether hate crimes are involved here. Investigations are still ongoing, but have not yet led to the identification of individual suspects.
This category includes hate crimes on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.
ODIHR recognizes the Netherlands' efforts to establish a legal framework that addresses bias motivations and ensures appropriate penalties for perpetrators of hate crime offences. However, based on the available information, it observes that the Netherlands does not collect data on hate crimes at the level of the judiciary. In addition, ODIHR observes that the Netherlands would benefit from raising awareness and building the capacity of criminal justice officials to address hate crimes, including on the use of the recently introduced general penalty enhancement provision.
ODIHR recalls that in Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, OSCE participating States committed to collecting reliable data and statistics in sufficient detail on hate crimes and to report such data periodically to ODIHR. To that end, hate crimes need to be distinguished throughout the recording and data collection process from discrimination and hate speech crimes. Participating States also committed to enacting specific, tailored legislation to combat hate crimes, providing for effective penalties that take into account the gravity of such crimes.
ODIHR stands ready to support the Netherlands in meeting the relevant commitments through its comprehensive resources and tailored assistance in the area of hate crime recording and data collection, as well as through tailored capacity building assistance for police, prosecution, and judiciary.
For 2024, ODIHR received reports of hate incidents in the Netherlands from the following civil society organizations:
- International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF)
- European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses
- The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC)
To learn more about these organizations, visit the Contributors page.
In addition, ODIHR also received reports of incidents recorded by the Holy See as part of their ongoing monitoring across the OSCE region.
All incidents submitted by the above organizations have been analysed by ODIHR. Those that were broadly considered to be hate crimes within the OSCE definition (criminal offence committed with a bias motive) are listed in the tables below according to the bias motivation category. Some incidents involved multiple biases and may be listed in multiple categories.
ODIHR’s insightsFor 2024, ODIHR received reports of 17 hate incidents that occurred in the Netherlands in the following bias motivation categories: anti-Christian and anti-Semitic. In addition, several incidents involved multiple bias motives, such as racist and xenophobic and anti-Semitic, or anti-Semitic and anti-Christian. ODIHR observed that a number of reported anti-Christian incidents targeted Jehovah’s Witnesses during their religious activities in public spaces or at their places of worship, including threats, harassment, and physical assaults. ODIHR also observed that incidents against the Christian community included repeated arson and vandalism targeting a multicultural church, as well as arson attacks against other church buildings and damage to devotional objects. Finally, ODIHR noted violent incidents with an additional xenophobic bias targeting Jewish individuals, including an attack on Israeli football fans following multiple social posts inciting violence against Jewish people, which resulted in several hospitalizations and led to the arrest of 62 suspects. It should be noted that ODIHR did not receive any reporting on the Netherlands relating to anti-Muslim, anti-Roma, gender-based, other religion or belief, or disability hate incidents. This indicates potential gaps in the information reported here. |
Please note that incidents reported here are based on voluntary civil society submissions and as such might not reflect the actual number of incidents or the most targeted communities in the Netherlands.
To address under-reporting, ODIHR encourages any civil society organizations or groups that monitor hate incidents in the Netherlands to report these to ODIHR at hatecrimereport@odihr.pl.
To export an Excel sheet with summaries of all incidents from the Netherlands click here and search by year and country.