Netherlands: Goverment report highlights racial tensions

[Strengthandhonour]

Netherlands: Government Report Highlights Racial Tensions

Amsterdam, 11 Jan. (AKI) - The Dutch authorities are not on top of the problem of multicultural tension in the country - especially among young people - increasing the risk of Paris-style riots in poor Dutch city districts, according to a newly published government study quoted on Thursday by Radio Netherlands. Measures being adopted by municipalities are frequently "one-sided" and fail to offer long-term solutions, the report argues, calling for more balanced policies that focus on individuals rather than on groups.

Very few municipalities believe that urgent change is needed in race relations policy and are adopting inadequate, and at times even counterproductive measures, the report finds. By referring to racist 'Lonsdale' youths or 'Antilleans' (descendants of immigrants from former Dutch colonies in the Caribbean), local councils are failing to appreciate the complexity of the problems created by a multicultural society and the heterogeneity within its various groups, the report says.

Government should give more support to city councils to tackle race relations problems and should carry out a more in-depth study of these, the report argues. It urges a national taskforce to be set up with a focus on multicultural youth policies. Three of the 'intervention' teams that compiled the report want to remain in place to laUnch efforts aimed at solving race problems and reducing tensions between ethnic groups, and improve youth safety and accessibility to youth welfare officers.

The two-year study was researched by four 'intervention teams' set up in 2004 after the brutal murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh by a radical Dutch Moroccan Islamist, Mohammed Bouyeri, after Van Gogh made a film 'Submission' criticising domestic violence against Muslim women. Van Gogh's killing sparked an increase in multicultural tension and a number of violent incidents such as torching of mosques and schools.

There are close to one million Muslims in the Netherlands, most of whom originally came from Turkey and North Africa. Muslim immigrants also come from the former colonies of Suriname and Indonesia, and there is also a substantial Somali minority. Antilleans form another group concentated in poor areas of major Dutch cities such as Rotterdam. In late December, outgoing immigration minister Rita Verdonk announced troublesome Antillean youths would be registered in a national databank.

The consultation body for Caribbean Dutch citizens, OCAN, objected to such a move, saying it was the first time since World War II that there would be a "special race databank" for a specific group of Dutch. It likened this to the World War II persecution and deportation of Jews.

source: NETHERLANDS: GOVERNMENT REPORT HIGHLIGHTS RACIAL TENSIONS