Municipalities aren’t doing enough to fight discrimination, MP’s say

Members of parliament from PvdA, GroenLinks, and DENK believe that municipalities are not doing enough to combat discrimination. They have asked Interior Affairs Minister Hanke Bruins Slot to intervene. One in three municipalities has a policy against discrimination.

The parliamentarians want municipalities to be obligated to spend part of the budget they receive from the national government on measures meant to combat discrimination. Coalition party VVD, the party of Prime Minister Mark Rutte, believe such an obligation is unwarranted.

The social issues research institute Movisie reported figures from its own study in December stating that 35 percent of municipalities have a policy against discrimination. That was only a marginal improvement from 33 percent in 2017. However, more municipalities were in the process of developing such a policy. This may include training courses for employers, lessons at schools or policy to ensure that there is more diversity among the civil servants on staff.

DENK MP Stephan van Baarle called the progress at the municipal level “outrageously meager.” He said he believes that they should be required to have a policy against discrimination. Lisa Westerveld of GroenLinks also thinks the current national policy directed at municipalities is too non-committal.

Songül Mutluer of the PvdA observed that money intended for discrimination is now often spent on other matters, such as lampposts or to relieve pressure caused by austerity. She wants part of the money that the Cabinet sends municipalities from the municipal fund to be “earmarked” so that it may only be spent on addressing and preventing discrimination.

“That affects the autonomy of the municipalities,” said VVD member Zohaier El Yassini in objecting to the proposal. He stated that The Hague should not decide ho city councils deal with their money, because they have also been democratically elected and must therefore decide for themselves. The Tweede Kamer member does believe that there are shortcomings in the Netherlands when it comes to “equality of opportunity,” and did agree that something should be done about it.

Municipalities are legally obliged to set up a hotline where residents can go if they are faced with discrimination. Hind Dekker-Abdulaziz (D66) said that many municipalities treat the hotline like “a secondary task” by assigning the work as an additional duty to “a few civil servants.”