A pyramid of complaints: The handling of complaints about racial discrimination in the Netherlands

Abstract

Abstract This article summarises the findings of a study into the ways in which complaints about racial discrimination are dealt with in the Netherlands. The Dutch legislators have chosen to use primarily the criminal law in the fight against racial discrimination. Although racial discrimination became more and more a matter of public concern in the Netherlands during the last decade, the number of court cases has remained very low. The researchers found that in point of fact a much larger number of complaints about racial discrimination are lodged with the police and with organisations providing assistance to individual complainants. However, due to the rigid selection procedure to which complaints about racial discrimination are subjected, only a fraction of the total number of complaints are pursued before the courts. The research aimed at identifying the factors which play a role in the selection. Among the complaints which are pursued, there are remarkably few complaints about discrimination in the f...