Officials have called in an independent investigative office to investigate racism at the ministry following Black Lives Matter protests around the world and in the Netherlands.
In 2020, amid global recognition of racism following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in the United States, Prime Minister Mark Rutte admitted that racism was a problem in the Netherlands, a nation long considered a bastion of tolerance.
The employees were not “mistreated in person,” but suffered “verbal assaults” after hearing people put others down because of their skin color, religion or origin, the document revealed, according to the AFP news agency.
According to the report, several employees claimed that some people were labeled “apes” or “bokitos”, referring to the gorilla that escaped from a Dutch zoo in 2007.
Other people were called “Zwarte Piet”, a controversial folk character representing a black man.
“One employee even referred to African countries as ‘ape countries,'” the report noted.
Chancellor Wopke Hoekstra called the study “painful and shocking.”
“What various colleagues in the department and missions around the world experienced is unacceptable and deeply moved me,” he wrote on Twitter.
The report indicated that in analyzing the results, the question was raised as to whether there was “institutional racism” within the ministry. “We conclude yes,” he said.
The Netherlands long promoted its image as a liberal and multicultural society, but in recent years has come to grips with its past as a colonial power that engaged in the slave trade.
For the research, 33 interviews were conducted and focus groups were formed with a total of 47 people, including “bicultural” employees working both in the Netherlands and abroad.
The study found that many of the people questioned – especially local staff – felt “ignored” and “excluded”.
Source: Ambito
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