The Netherlands' Muslim community faced the brunt of religious discrimination in the country in 2022, a report has revealed.
The annual report, based on data compiled from multiple security and rights bodies, also found that most of the victims last year faced discrimination due to their ethnicities.
It also marked an increase in the number of cases from 2021, according to the records kept by the police and the country's children's ombudsman.
For instance, the Dutch police received some 6,738 discrimination complaints in 2022, a 2% increase from 2021.
The report added that discrimination complaints submitted to the police continued to rise for the third year in a row.
Nearly 43% of all discrimination complaints received by the police and 49% of the complaints handled by the Discrimination Complaints Services (ADV) were cases based on ethnicity, according to the report.
It also revealed that racial ethnicity-based discrimination was mostly experienced in professional settings and public services.
Citing police data on religious discrimination, the report identified Muslims as the main victims, being the target in 93% of the cases in 2022, compared to 67% in the previous year.
Similarly, ADV figures showed that Muslims were the targets in over 73% of religious discrimination cases in 2022. This rate was at 65% in 2021.
In 2019, the Netherlands passed a series of laws that increased discrimination against Muslims and the violation of their rights, according to Dutch academics.
