The Meldpunt Discriminatie Regio Amsterdam will present its 2019 Annual Report as well as the Monitor Discrimination on April 23. The Monitor comes out simultaneously with the national report and those of all police units in the country. The Meldpunt Discriminatie Regio Amsterdam received 595 reports.
The Amsterdam unit has by far the highest proportion of reports per thousand inhabitants (0.56) compared to the national average (0.25). The municipalities of Amsterdam (0.63) and Diemen (o.65) take the crown. Amstelveen saw the number of reports almost double in one year. As in 2018, more than half of the reports involved discrimination based on origin/skin color. A quarter of the reports concerned employment discrimination.
Origin, skin color & religion
A large portion in discrimination based on origin/skin color involves anti-black racism with 123 reports. Half of these involve hostile treatment such as insulting, stigmatizing and bullying. Muslim discrimination increased by 38% to 36 reports in 2019. This directly involves religion-based discrimination. Discrimination on cultural and external characteristics, national origin and ethnicity of Muslims or those perceived to be Muslim fall within the ground of origin. This involved an additional 65 reports. Although smaller in absolute numbers, reports of anti-Semitism increased by 40% last year.
Sharp increase in 'violence & threats'
Discrimination involving violence and threats has an additional impact on victims. That number increased by a whopping 160% to 73 cases. 40% involved gay men. The increase is exceptional since cases of violence and threats are reported directly and often only to the police. In addition, the number of reports based on sexual orientation doubled in two years.
Treatment, counseling & mediation
As an anti-discrimination facility, the primary task of the Discrimination Hotline is to provide assistance to citizens who encounter discrimination. Half of the number of reports call for this. For example, victims were offered psychosocial support or guidance in reporting the crime, support in resilience, or asked for a judgement at the Human Rights Board on behalf of the notifier. Also in 2019, the Discrimination Hotline entered into discussions with, among others, school boards, employers, employment agencies, cab exchanges, supermarkets, catering establishments where problems occurred in order to reach solutions. From 2019, additional research will be conducted into the nature and extent of different types of discrimination and the underlying issues.