Driven by equality. Together for inclusion.

1. Introduction

In September 2022, the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations presented the first National Program against Discrimination and Racism to the Dutch Parliament. The aim of the program is to reinforce policy efforts to tackle discrimination and racism.

The compiling of the National Program was coordinated by the National Coordinator against Discrimination and Racism (NCDR), Rabin Baldewsingh. In October 2021, he was appointed National Coordinator (NCDR) by the Government in response to a proposal from the Dutch Parliament issued on the back of events such as the large-scale Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and the revelations of institutional racism in the allocation of childcare benefits by the Tax and Customs Administration.

When presenting the National Program to the Government, the NCDR made it clear that he is in favor of further-reaching measures for a number of elements of the program. The NCDR phrased these points in a letter to the Government, the full text of which has been included in this summary.

People in the spotlight in the National Program

Following his appointment, the NCDR was tasked with developing a National Program against Discrimination and Racism, broadly supported by society and the Ministries involved. The program is now ready and has been presented to the Government, and hence to the whole of society.

In the first National Program against Discrimination and Racism, the NCDR has emphatically focused on people. In the Netherlands we all too often think in terms of bureaucratic processes, whereas issues of racism and discrimination call for a consideration of the lived experiences of individual people and how these experiences affect them.

In line with this people-oriented approach, the proposed measures are divided into three chapters.

• Chapter 2 discusses ways to improve acknowledgement and prevention of discrimination and racism.
• The measures in Chapter 3 are intended to help us recognize and report discrimination and racism.
• Chapter 4 discusses how we can provide better support and protection to victims of discrimination and racism.