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Complaints of discrimination surged by 33% last year

April 23, 2024
An anti-slavery monument was defaced with racist graffiti in Vlissingen last year. Photo: ANP/Tobias Kleuver

Complaints of discrimination increased by 33% last year, according to a draft report by police, the human rights watchdog and the government obtained by RTL Nieuws.

In 2023 8,990 complaints were recorded by police and anti-discrimination services, nearly half of which were classed as discrimination based on a person’s origin.

Reports of anti-Semitism were up by 60% and now account for nearly 10% of all complaints, RTL reported. The agencies said anti-Semitism appeared to have increased in the wake of the attacks by Hamas on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza.

Homophobia and discrimination against people’s sexual orientation was the basis of 28% of all complaints, an increase of 400 since 2022 but a smaller proportion of the total.

Anti-discrimination services, which compile separate figures from the police, said they had received 20% more complaints last year.

The figures were included in a report compiled by the government, police and the independent human rights regulator College voor de Rechten van de Mens.

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