The Netherlands is on Tuesday justifying its racial discrimination policy at the United Nations.

All member states which have signed the racial discrimination treaty must justify their policies once every four years.

Among the issues being discussed are the annual celebration in December featuring Zwarte Piet, ethnic profiling by the police and discrimination in the workplace.

The UN is studying reports by the Dutch government and two other reports by independent organisations.

The UN committee will report its findings and propose improvements later this year.