NETHERLANDS: A FoRB record: 15 years of continuity with selective tension
By Hans Noot, Associate director of Human Rights Without Frontiers
HRWF (25.11.2025) – The Netherlands has long stood among the global leaders in freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), with robust constitutional protections and a forward-looking international policy.
Yet as our latest analysis for HRWF shows, the past 15 years have introduced fresh dynamics: from a strengthened role in foreign policy (including the establishment of a Special Envoy for Religion & Belief) to domestic tensions such as the face-covering ban and recurring debates over religious slaughter.
The full article reviews these developments from an external actor’s vantage point, offering a balanced assessment of progress, emerging challenges and implications for rights-organisations worldwide.
Since the 2010s the Netherlands has continued to carry a prominent reputation as a leader in protecting and promoting freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). At the same time, the evolving domestic context and shifting global human-rights environment have introduced fresh areas of tension. From a non-Dutch vantage point, the progress is real and institutional, yet not uniformly linear.
A robust legal and institutional foundation
The Dutch Constitution enshrines FoRB: Article 6 guarantees the right to profess and manifest one’s religion or belief, individually or in community, subject to statutory limitations for health, traffic and public order.¹ Article 23 enshrines the freedom of education, allowing public funding for “bijzondere” (religious or ideological) schools.² On the institutional side, the national human-rights infrastructure — in particular the College voor de Rechten van de Mens (Dutch Institute for Human Rights) — provides an independent forum for claims of discrimination and rights violations in the sphere of religion or belief.
In its foreign-policy documents the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands presents FoRB as a “top priority … at various international organisations including the EU, UN, OSCE and CoE”.³ These normative and institutional characteristics strongly anchor the Netherlands among the world’s more favourable jurisdictions for FoRB.
Institutional consolidation in foreign policy
Over the past decade and a half, the Netherlands has also further institutionalised FoRB in its external human-rights strategy. The creation in 2019 of the post of Special Envoy for Religion and Belief is a concrete marker of this development. The government’s annual Human Rights Report (2021 edition) states that “it is therefore vital that we continue to focus on the right to freedom of religion and belief”.⁴ Furthermore, Dutch diplomacy increasingly frames FoRB as inter-linked with other key rights-areas (women’s rights, LGBTI rights, civic space), signalling an evolution towards a holistic human-rights strategy.
Emerging tensions in the domestic sphere
Notwithstanding this strong foundation, a number of policy developments and social-practical indicators reveal areas of growing friction:
- In August 2019 the Netherlands introduced a law that prohibits full-face coverings (niqab/burqa) in public transport, health-care institutions, schools and government buildings.⁵ While enforcement data show few fines issued, human-rights watchdogs consider the law potentially discriminatory because it targets a specific religious minority.⁶
- In the area of ritual slaughter, debates have resurfaced over whether non-stunned religious slaughter should be permitted. Although a 2012 covenant temporarily preserved religious slaughter under stricter conditions, this remains a recurrent source of concern for Jewish and Muslim communities.
- Assessments by international bodies note an increase in anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic incidents, and they highlight that while the formal protections are strong, lived experience for certain minority religious groups is marked by exclusion and stereotyping. For instance, the Freedom House 2022 “Freedom in the World” report remarks that “Muslims and immigrants experience harassment and discrimination, and polarisation around cultural identity issues has increased.”⁷
Interpreting the trend: progress, not linear perfection
From the vantage of an external observer, the Netherlands demonstrates clear progress in three key dimensions:
- Legal/institutional strength – the constitutional and statutory protections for FoRB remain among Europe’s strongest.
- Foreign-policy embedding – FoRB is no longer a marginal theme but a flag-ship element within Dutch human-rights diplomacy.
- Multi-rights alignment – the integration of FoRB with gender equality and LGBTI rights signals a modern rights-based approach, consistent with international human-rights norms.
At the same time, however, progress is not unqualified. The existence of selective measures (face-cover ban, ritual slaughter debate) that affect particular religious minorities suggests a narrowing space for certain forms of religious expression. The fact that minority groups still report social exclusion and that public debates around Islam remain charged reveals that social reality does not always mirror legal guarantee.
Implications for HRWF and human-rights actors
For organisations like Human Rights Without Frontiers, the Dutch case offers three key lessons:
- First: Even high-performing jurisdictions require ongoing scrutiny. Legal protections matter, but so do implementation, enforcement and public climate.
- Second: Foreign-policy commitments must align with domestic credibility: when a country externally champions FoRB, internal consistency strengthens legitimacy.
- Third: The balance between religious-autonomy rights and other fundamental rights (gender equality, education, anti-discrimination) remains dynamic and must be navigated carefully.
Conclusion
In sum, the Netherlands over the past 15 years remains a forerunner on freedom of religion or belief, underpinned by strong constitutional protections and a matured foreign policy orientation. Yet the presence of selective restrictions and social-practical shortcomings signal that the path is not one of simple, unbroken improvement. From the perspective of a human-rights actor external to the Netherlands, the task is now one of refinement: ensuring that progress is deepened, inclusive and sustained.
References
- Constitution of the Netherlands, Article 6 – “Everyone shall have the right to profess freely his religion or belief…” (see government site)
- Constitution of the Netherlands, Article 23 – freedom of education.
- Government of the Netherlands, “Freedom of religion and belief” (webpage). nl
- Government of the Netherlands, Human Rights Report 2021, p. … (“it is therefore vital that we continue to focus on the right to freedom of religion and belief”). nl
- Human Rights Watch, World Report 2020: Netherlands (“A controversial new law banning full-face coverings… entered force in August.”) Human Rights Watch
- Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2022: Netherlands (“Muslims and immigrants experience harassment and discrimination, and polarisation around cultural identity issues has increased.”) Freedom House
