A/HRC/44/57/Add.2 8. At the same time, the Special Rapporteur encountered equally powerful evidence of views of national identity and national belonging as racialized and as implicitly (and, in some cases, explicitly) restricted or qualified on the basis of ethnicity and religion. The reality therefore seems to be one in which race, ethnicity, national origin, religion and other factors determine who is treated fully as a citizen. To be more specific, in many areas of life – including in social and political discourse, and even in some laws and policies – different factors reinforce the view that to truly or genuinely belong is to be white and of Western origin. Individuals belonging to other racial and ethnic groups, such as people of African and Asian descent (who have been a part of the State for centuries), people of North African and Middle Eastern descent and people belonging to the Roma, Sinti and Traveller communities are confronted with characterizations that they are neither truly nor wholly Netherlanders. Such characterizations hold even when those individuals and their families hold full citizenship and have done so for multiple generations. Religion is also salient, with society, the media and members of parliament repeatedly denigrating Islam as inherently opposed to the national identity – and even to liberal democracy more generally. 9. The fractured nature of national identity and belonging is vividly reflected in public political and social discourse on the ethnic and racial groups present in the country. Regardless of citizenship status, this discourse reinforces a distinction between Netherlanders perceived to have a non-Western migrant background and Netherlanders considered to be without a migrant background. Notably, in public discourse, individuals with a Western migrant background are viewed largely as natives of the Netherlands and their sense of national belonging is rarely contested. Of course, there is nothing inherently offensive or discriminatory about being designated as a person of a non-Western migrant background. The problem is that this focus translates in citizens belonging to racial and ethnic minorities being treated as perpetual foreigners. 10. During the Special Rapporteur’s visit, several interlocutors characterized the Netherlands political landscape as highly polarized. Many considered the high-profile political assassinations that occurred in 2002 and 2004, along with political leaders’ subsequent responses, to be inflection points in the country’s race and religious relations. The decades since have seen a rise in right-wing nationalist populist rhetoric that poses a complex threat to racial equality.1 Some interlocutors highlighted the mainstreaming of xenophobic and racist discourse, including at the highest levels of politics. 11. Furthermore, some interlocutors expressed concern about the consolidation of Islamophobia. Distressingly, some interlocutors noted considerable tolerance for Islamophobic sentiment, even among those who purported to defend universal human rights. Parliamentary, media and public discourse concerning the Partial Prohibition of Face-covering Clothing Act of 2018, dubbed “the burka ban”, which bans face coverings in a number of public places, illustrates this troubling trend. 2 Although the text of the law may be read as neutral, the accompanying political discourse surrounding it has made it clear that the law adversely affects Muslim women. Interlocutors have highlighted the perverse irony of the measure, which disregards the fact that Muslim women are among the most vulnerable to physical harassment and attacks in public, as well as to workplace discrimination, especially if they wear a headscarf. The Special Rapporteur emphasizes that such a law has no place in a society that prides itself in promoting gender equality, as it makes women more vulnerable. In a positive development, some municipalities and the police have announced that they do not intend to prioritize the enforcement of the law. However, even without official enforcement, the media’s emphasis on “citizen arrests” as an enforcement method has emboldened private citizens harbouring anti-Muslim sentiment to take matters into their own hands. 3 1 2 3 A/73/305 and Corr.1. See www.eerstekamer.nl/behandeling/20190426/publicatie_inwerkingtreding/ document3/f=/vkxy2zjaccyi.pdf (in Dutch). See, for example, https://nltimes.nl/2019/08/05/confusion-burka-ban-woman-refused-nijmegenplayground. 3