Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Netherlands (Ratification: 1973)

Articles 2 and 3. National policy to promote equality of opportunity and treatment of ethnic minorities. The Committee notes the statistics provided by the Government on the active population in 2011 according to economic activity, level of education, sex and origin, and recalls its previous observation in which it noted the precarious labour force participation of “non-Western” minorities, particularly workers of Turkish and Moroccan origin. It also recalls that uncertainty remained about the actual impact of the various measures taken to address discrimination against them and achieve genuine equality in employment and occupation. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that during the period 2007–10 the unemployment rates of ethnic minorities were 2.8 per cent higher than for native Dutch and are increasing under the influence of the economic recession. Particularly immigrants of Moroccan and Antillean origin continue to be over-represented among the unemployed and differences exist not only between but also within ethnic groups, particularly between men and women of Turkish origin. According to the Government part of the unemployment rate can be explained by the lower educational levels of immigrants compared to native Dutch and when differences are assessed with respect to educational level, age, employment history, job experience, gender, household composition and degree of urbanization, only 16 per cent of the difference remains unexplained. On the other hand, for Moroccans the variables explained only just over half of the differences (The Netherlands Institute for Social Research (2012), Annual Integration Report 2011). Research findings also suggest that discrimination is primarily related to access to the labour market and that discriminatory differences in earnings and level of occupation are virtually absent for those already in employment. In this connection, the Committee recalls the target of a 50 per cent increase in the proportion of people of ethnic minorities employed in the public sector and notes the Government’s statement that additional support for diversity policies in the public sector, and to private sector employers, has ended. The Government indicates that it is the task of the social partners to make arrangements about working conditions within the existing legal framework and that the Social Economic Council (SER) has been asked to provide advice on labour market discrimination by the end of 2013; no further action will be taken by the Government until the advice is published. In light of the above, the Committee asks the Government to provide detailed information on the SER advice on labour market discrimination, which it hopes will include an evaluation of the various projects and programmes undertaken to eliminate discrimination in employment and occupation against certain ethnic minority groups, in particular workers of Moroccan and Turkish origin, and to promote their equality of opportunity and treatment in the labour market. In this connection, the Committee also asks the Government to indicate all the measures taken to address unexplained differences in employment between native Dutch and “non-Western” minorities, and to set specific targets in the context of projects and programmes aimed at eliminating discrimination on the basis of race, colour and national extraction, and to measure the effectiveness of these programmes. Please indicate the reasons for ending support to diversity policies in the public sector and provide statistical data on the actual employment of ethnic minorities in the public sector as compared to 2008 (when the latest data were provided), as well as in the private sector.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.