A/HRC/44/57/Add.2
that the individuals affected only have recourse through an appeal to administrative courts
on procedural grounds.50 Such a limited review prevents access to an effective remedy.
Those facing a citizenship-stripping order should have access to sufficient information and
appeals processes to challenge the order.
E.
Freedom of expression and assembly and protection of human rights
defenders working to combat racism
61.
The Special Rapporteur finds the treatment of human rights defenders working to
combat racism, discrimination and intolerance of great concern. Consultations with antiracism activists highlighted that they are frequently targets of insults, violence and threats,
especially by extreme right-wing actors. On some occasions, local politicians have
supported the targeting of anti-racism activists. Furthermore, police brutality against such
activists reportedly occurs in cities where activists organize protests against Black Piet.
62.
The seeming failure of law enforcement and judicial authorities to extend equal
protection of the law to anti-racism activists is worrying. Individuals who have participated
in protests centred on the issue of Black Piet have also reported that government action has
contributed to a discourse that presents such protestors as terrorists. They have noted that
the mention of an anti-racism organization protesting against Black Piet in the 2017 report
of the National Coordinator for Security and Counter-terrorism fuelled the false narrative
that those anti-racism protestors were terrorists, notwithstanding a formal statement
subsequently issued by the Government clarifying the status of the protestors. The damage
had already been done.
F.
Carceral facilities
63.
The prison population in the Netherlands has been in decline in recent years, which
is laudable. A visit to Vught prison revealed significant and impressive investment by the
Government in generally promoting humane conditions of confinement. The Special
Rapporteur notes, however, that there have been serious human rights concerns raised with
respect to the terrorist units in that prison.51
64.
Although the numbers of those incarcerated are low in the Netherlands, ethnic and
racial minorities are alarmingly overrepresented. Studies suggest that socioeconomic status
alone cannot explain this overrepresentation and that ethnicity appears to play an
independent role in determining imprisonment. 52 The prevalence of ethnic profiling and the
widespread criminalization of ethnic and racial minorities are likely to be contributing
factors. The Government must invest in research to determine the causes of the
overrepresentation of ethnic and racial minorities in the prison population and take the steps
necessary to address this situation.
65.
The numbers of detainees in immigration detention in the Netherlands is relatively
low. The Special Rapporteur urges the Government to maintain its commitment to treating
immigration detention as a measure of last resort. The Special Rapporteur toured the
Rotterdam immigration detention centre. The facility’s management generally
demonstrated a commitment to ensuring non-discrimination, equality and inclusion of
detainees and staff. The facility employs staff from a variety of ethnic and religious
backgrounds and has implemented concrete measures to create a work environment that
both accommodates this diversity and ensures the safety and security of those detained in
the facility. In this way, the Rotterdam immigration detention centre stands in stark contrast
50
51
52
Netherlands Committee of Jurists for Human Rights and others, “Dutch NGOs contribution pertaining
to Fifth Periodic Report by the Kingdom of Netherlands to the UN Human Rights Committee”, p. 5.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/10/anti-terror-prisons-breach-human-rights-innetherlands/.
In consultations with the Special Rapporteur, some civil society organizations noted linkages between
ethnic profiling and the overrepresentation of ethnic and racial minorities in the administrative justice
system.
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