Dutch Court allows racial profiling

The Netherlands: Decision to allow continued use of ethnic profiling “throws international human rights law out of the window”

 22 September 2021

Following a decision by a District Court in The Hague to reject a claim brought by Amnesty Netherlands and a coalition of NGOs and individual claimants that the use of ethnicity in stop and searches by Dutch border police was discriminatory, Amnesty Netherlands’ Director, Dagmar Oudshoorn said:

Today’s ruling that the Dutch border police can continue to use ethnic profiling not only throws international human rights law out of the window, but also tramples Article 1 of the Dutch constitution.

By ruling that police can target people based on skin colour and race, the court has allowed a practice that is in clear violation of the prohibition against discrimination to continue. We will appeal this decision.

For more information and to arrange an interview contact +31 6 52058700 | g.klos@amnesty.nl  or stefan.simanowitz@amnesty.org

Read here the press release

Click here to read the summons

Click here to read the written arguments