UN to weigh in on Dutch racial discrimination, Zwarte Piet

The United Nations' College for Human Rights will present its conclusions and recommendation on discrimination in the Netherlands on Friday. This will include recommendations on Sinterklaas' highly controversial helper Zwarte Piet, Het Parool reports. Every four years United Nations human rights experts assess whether countries are complying with the UN conventions they have signed. Last week was the Netherlands' turn. The Dutch delegation discussed a range of topics, including emergency shelter for refugees, the situation on the labor market and ethnic profiling by the police. But Zwarte Piet made up the biggest part of the discussion. Zwarte Piet has caused much controversy in the Netherlands over the past few years, with a large number of protests being held against Sinterklaas' helper. On slave liberation day on July 1st four anti-Zwarte Piet foundations encouraged people to file complaints against the character. The Public Prosecutor received three charges and about 700 support statements after this action. Earlier this month the Bijenkorf department store chain announced that the climbing Zwarte Pieten that traditionally decorate the hall of the Amsterdam branch during the holiday season, will be golden this year instead of the traditional black. Yesterday Nickelodeon stated that the Pieten on the children's channel will not be wearing black makeup this year.