Due to the corona measures, some people experienced discrimination in 2021, while they had hardly had to deal with it before, Discriminatie.nl chairman Stefano Frans told NU.nl. He hopes that this will eventually lead to greater understanding in society for people who are discriminated against because of their origin, for example.
“Discrimination was widely experienced in society for the first time in modern history,” Frans responds to the results of the report Discrimination figures in 2021. Every municipality must be affiliated with an anti-discrimination facility (ADV), so that residents can report if they wish to. feel discriminated against. The 28 ADVs are united in Discriminatie.nl.
“Over the past year, for example, the mandatory corona admission ticket also gave swimming parents the feeling of being discriminated against,” says Frans. “That is a much broader group than, for example, people with a dark skin color or people who belong to the LGBTIQ+ community.”
Due to the corona rules, the ADVs received a quarter more reports than a year earlier. According to the law, these reports cannot be regarded directly as discrimination in many cases. A judge also ruled in October 2021 that the corona admission ticket does not violate the prohibition of discrimination. However, that is how it was experienced.
This is why asking for a corona admission ticket was not discrimination:
- Asking for the corona ticket applied to everyone aged 13 and older.
- Everyone had access to the locations where the evidence was requested.
- People could choose for themselves: get vaccinated or go somewhere with a negative test certificate.
‘Number of reports tip of the iceberg’
Discriminatie.nl hopes that discrimination widely felt in society in recent years will lead to a society with more understanding of the existence of discrimination. Because, according to the ADV association, the number of reports is “just the tip of the iceberg”.
“Research has shown that one sixth of the approximately 380,000 Zeeland residents sometimes feel discriminated against,” Frans gives as an example. “But in 2021 ADV Zeeland only received 151 reports of discrimination.”
Frans suspects that the increasing trend in the number of reports of discrimination due to the recently increased attention will continue, even without corona. “Discrimination is really a hot topic right now,” explains the chairman of Discriminatie.nl.
“It has never been so high on the political agenda. It is now also often discussed at work and in people’s surroundings. What you hear a lot about, ultimately comes to the fore more in the figures.”