The Netherlands Is Developing a National Plan to Combat Muslim Discrimination
The Dutch National Coordinator against Discrimination and Racism is developing a plan covering education, the labour market, online hate speech and religious freedom, after years of research on Muslim discrimination went unaddressed by the government.
The Netherlands is working towards a dedicated national strategy to address Muslim discrimination. Rabin Baldewsingh, the National Coordinator against Discrimination and Racism, known by the abbreviation NCDR, announced on March 15 that he will appoint a programme leader specifically tasked with developing the plan. The announcement was made on the International Day against Islamophobia.
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What is being planned
The new programme leader has one clear task: to work with communities, organisations, researchers, policymakers and local authorities to develop a broadly supported strategy against Muslim discrimination in the Netherlands.
The national plan is intended to produce concrete improvements in areas including education, the labour market, safety, combating online hate speech and protecting religious freedom. The finished plan is to be presented to the cabinet by the end of 2026.
Baldewsingh has said the plan will not be written behind a desk but will be built through dialogue with those directly affected, with the aim of collecting real experiences, identifying where the system is failing and developing workable solutions.
Why Baldewsingh changed his mind
Baldewsingh had previously been reluctant to appoint a separate coordinator for Muslim discrimination, out of concern that it could lead to fragmentation in discrimination policy more broadly. He has now changed position, saying the problem has become too large and too persistent to handle without dedicated attention.
"For too long we have had study after study showing that Muslim discrimination is a large and growing problem," he said. "But nobody has picked up the baton. So now I am doing it."
He said the decision is also a response to a harder and more polarised public debate, and to international tensions whose effects are increasingly felt in Dutch society. "In this climate we see Muslim discrimination growing again. That is precisely why it is important that the government makes clear that discrimination against Muslims is just as unacceptable as any other form of discrimination," he said.
The political gap this is trying to fill
Multiple Islamic organisations had asked coalition parties during the government formation process to appoint a National Coordinator specifically for combating Muslim discrimination. Baldewsingh expressed concern that Muslim discrimination is not mentioned in the coalition agreement of the current Jetten cabinet, which he said signals that the issue does not have sufficient urgency for the coalition parties.
Baldewsingh is also asking the cabinet to move responsibility for tackling Muslim discrimination from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, where it currently sits under the heading of integration policy, to the Ministry of the Interior. He argues that framing it under integration policy introduces a bias, and that placing it under the Ministry of the Interior would allow it to be handled on a neutral, constitutional basis.
The announcement mirrors an existing structure: alongside the general NCDR, there is already a dedicated national coordinator for combating antisemitism, a post that was created separately in recognition of antisemitism as a specific and serious problem requiring its own focus.
