Discrimination office warns Tilburg students to stop Dutch-only ads for roommates

The anti-discrimination agency Discriminatie.nl has asked Tilburg students to stop advertising for “Dutch-only” or “no international” roommates on Facebook groups for student rooms. The agency doesn’t get many reports about these ads, but when it does, they often involve Tilburg. “Almost two-thirds of the advertisements in Facebook groups for student rooms say ‘Dutch only,’ or ‘No Internationals,’ or something like that,” Dave Bekkering of Discriminatie.nl told Omroep Brabant.

If the “Dutch-only” ads are placed by students looking for a housemate and not the landlord, it is not punishable under Dutch law. The General Equal Treatment Act includes an exception for private rental. This exception is intended to protect the right to privacy of the roommate seeker. “For example, students often say they want to be able to speak Dutch in their private environment,” Bekkering said.

But Discriminatie.nl wants to discourage this behavior because it affects people. “International students feel excluded, and that has an impact. Discrimination because of your identity or nationality often causes a feeling of humiliation,” Bekkering said. “We are in talks with groups of students from Tilburg, with the municipality, and Tilburg University to do things differently. We are also going to investigate this.”

The right-to-privacy exception does not apply to landlords, who are specifically prohibited from discriminating when renting out a room. Discriminatie.nl, therefore, investigates all “Dutch-only” ads it finds and takes action when it turns out that it is not the resident but the landlord who wants to keep international students out.