Economie & Humanisme F:\EC ou Affaires\CE MEDIS discriminations et statistiques 0834\Rapports MEDIS finaux\Rapport final PaysBas GB2.doc Comparative Study on the Collection of data to Measure the Extent and Impact of Discrimination in a selection of countries Medis Project (Measurement of Discriminations) Final Report on The Netherlands Virginie Guiraudon Karen Phalet and Jessika Ter Wal June 2004 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Employment and Social Affairs DG 14 rue Antoine Dumont 69372 LYON cedex 08 France - site Internet : www.economie-humanisme.org téléphone 33 (0)4 72 71 66 66 - télécopie 33 (0)4 78 69 86 96 - courriel : [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 I - Anti-discrimination law and policies........................................................... 6 A/ Anti-discrimination laws and the Equal Treatment Commission.........................................6 B/ Main policies on the four grounds of discrimination ...........................................................10 1) Race and ethnicity .....................................................................................................................10 2) Religion .....................................................................................................................................20 3) Sexual orientation......................................................................................................................24 4) Handicap/disability....................................................................................................................27 II - The use of statistics and their characteristics ........................................... 30 A/ The collection of data: institutes, sources and categories ....................................................30 1) The municipal registers and the GBA .......................................................................................30 2) Statistics Netherlands (CBS) .....................................................................................................32 3) SCP, ISEO, ITS and other institutes and data sources ..............................................................34 B/ Social science studies ...............................................................................................................38 1) Employment ..............................................................................................................................38 2) Education...................................................................................................................................41 3) Media and the issue of “visibility” ............................................................................................43 4) Studies on sexual orientation.....................................................................................................45 C/ Their role in policies and politics ...........................................................................................46 1) The use of monitoring in policy ................................................................................................46 2) The use of monitoring by non-governmental organizations......................................................51 3) Public Debates...........................................................................................................................61 D/ The use of statistics as legal evidence.....................................................................................67 1) The van Binderen case...............................................................................................................67 2) The Equal Treatment Commission and the use of data .............................................................68 3) The CGB and equal pay ............................................................................................................70 4) Testing and discrimination in nightlife......................................................................................72 5) The CGB investigates on its own: the case of sexual orientation and IVF ...............................72 E/ The interaction between social science, law and politics......................................................73 III - Controlling the production and use of statistics ....................................... 75 A/ Data protection laws................................................................................................................75 B/ Measures to protect sensitive data collection and use and exemptions ..............................77 C/ Other issues ..............................................................................................................................79 References..........................................................................................................................................80 1) Books, articles and reports ........................................................................................................80 2) Press articles ..............................................................................................................................86 Annexs................................................................................................................................................87 1) Annex 1. List of abbreviations ..................................................................................................87 2) Annex 2. List of interviewees and interlocutors........................................................................87 3) Annex 3. Web Sites Related to Anti-discrimination Monitoring and Enforcement..................88 4) Annex 4. Equal Treatment Act..................................................................................................89 5) Annex 5. Act on equal treatment on the grounds of handicap or chronic illness ......................96 INTRODUCTION Article 1 of the new Dutch Constitution adopted in 1983 reads as follows: “All persons in the Netherlands shall be treated equally in all circumstances. Discrimination on the grounds of religion, belief, political opinion, race, or sex or on any other grounds whatsoever shall not be permitted.” Symbolically the fact that the commitment to equality is the first written down in the basic law of the Netherlands marks an attachment to the fight against discrimination. Dutch nationhood has been built on the recognition of diversity in society. Historically, there have been several “pillars” in Dutch society reflecting religious pluralism: a Protestant pillar, a Catholic pillar and a non-denominational or lay pillar. Peaceful coexistence among various groups in society rested upon their equal access to societal and political institutions (equal opportunities) and the “emancipation” of all segments of society so that there would not be groups with a lower social position (equality in outcomes). In 1983, along with the Constitution, the policy on ethnic minorities also saw the light (Minderhedennota 1983). In effect it extended “pillarization” (verzuiling) and the Dutch commitment to equality to new groups considered to be “socially disadvantaged”: postcolonial migrants such as Surinamese, Moluccans and Antilleans, former guest-workers such as Turks and Moroccans and other groups including asylum-seekers and caravan dwellers. In 1998, a policy aimed at bettering the position of minorities in the sphere of employment was targeted at minorities (SAMEN Wet or Act for the Stimulation of Labour Market Participation). Key to understanding the “philosophy” of ethnic minority policy and the way it relates to anti-discrimination measures and ethnic monitoring is that ethnicity and social class are closely linked. In order to “qualify” as an ethnic minority, your (ethnic) group must suffer socio-economic disadvantage. Subsequently, monitoring is necessary to establish the socio-economic position of your group and to target policies that seek to achieve social equality. Although the so-called pillar system originally reflected religious pluralism and then transpired into the organization of society and politics, Dutch society in the second part of the 20th century became largely secularised. The spirit of tolerance and respect of diversity endured. This can be seen in the legislation on homosexuality. Since 1994, same sex couples have been able to register partnerships and homosexuals could file a complaint before the Equal Treatment Commission. Since 2001, marriage between two persons of the same sex is authorized. Commenting on the debate regarding the legalization of same sex marriages, activist legal scholar Kees Waaldijk has noted that there was little opposition from religious groups. He stated: "It's a very secular society. There was strong opposition from some really traditional protestant churches and from the Bishops, but the rest of the Catholic church didn't say much." In fact, he believes debates at church meetings and discussion in Christian media helped advance the issue (Waaldijk 2002). 1 To sum up the way in which the discrimination problématique has been dealt with in the Dutch case, it applies an historical model that calls for the equalizing of social conditions among groups and the tolerance of pluralism to a post-industrial and post-modern context. In the context of secularisation that made traditional religions less salient, new groups have benefited