A/HRC/44/57/Add.2 for individual academic potential but instead simply stereotyped students on the basis of ethnic origin or the educational or employment level of their parents. 77. Roma children are participating in secondary education at an increasing rate. Nonetheless, the Government must do more to foster Roma inclusion in education. Efforts to reduce educational absenteeism that stigmatize Roma children adversely affect prospects for remedying long-standing discrimination and segregation in the national education system. Tensions between municipalities, schools and/or Roma communities have reportedly led to the implementation of repressive measures against Roma children. 70 Some interlocutors have expressed concern about the exclusion of Roma communities from the design of education and integration policies that have a direct impact on them. The Special Rapporteur stresses the importance of safeguarding the right to being consulted and of obtaining the free, prior and informed consent of Roma families and urges the Government to implement inclusive education policies that guarantee the participation of the Roma community. I. Housing 78. A recent study used situation-testing and telephone calls to investigate discrimination against ethnic minorities in the housing sector.71 The journalists conducting the study sought to view rental properties and provided either a Moroccan-Netherlandssounding name or a stereotypically Netherlands-sounding name. The journalists received 28 per cent fewer invitations to view rental properties when they gave a MoroccanNetherlands-sounding name. The journalists also found that more than 90 per cent of real estate agents were willing to accommodate discriminatory requests to exclude ethnic minorities from consideration as prospective tenants. 79. It was reported to the Special Rapporteur that the Government had adopted a policy to protect Travellers in the Netherlands from housing discrimination.72 Instead of dismantling traveller camps and caravan sites, the new policy aims to prevent discrimination and safeguard traveller rights to housing. The Special Rapporteur welcomes this policy and its affirmation of Travellers’ rights. However, as municipalities and housing corporations are mainly responsible for housing policies in the Netherlands, the remaining challenge for the Government is to ensure implementation and enforcement of the policy at the local level. It must take measures to strengthen monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and provide adequate support to assess the development of caravan sites throughout the Netherlands. J. Black Piet 80. The figure of Black Piet in cultural life has been the subject of prior human rights analysis73 and remains greatly contested in the Netherlands. There are many for whom this figure remains the innocent expression of national culture. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that Black Piet embodies degrading and dehumanizing racial stereotypes. Furthermore, as others have explained, Black Piet exemplifies denial of racial discrimination and colonial violence in the Netherlands. 74 Furthermore, Black Piet reflects both the Netherlands’ unconfronted colonial legacies and the persisting subordinate status of black people, especially Netherlands people of African descent. 70 71 72 73 74 16 See https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/cd8dea82-b1a9-11e9-9d0101aa75ed71a1/language-en/format-PDF. https://www.groene.nl/artikel/rachid-is-ook-gewoon-een-nette-jongen. NJCM, Written submission to the country report on the Kingdom of the Netherlands of the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, February 2020. A/HRC/30/56/Add.1, paras. 104–109. Gloria Wekker, White Innocence: Paradoxes of Colonialism and Race (Durham, North Carolina, Duke University Press, April 2016).