Roma in the Netherlands:
The Roma community in the Netherlands, although of relatively small size, is a very diverse community consisting of Sinti, Roma (with various subgroups), Woonwagenbewoners (Travelers), and Yenish. The collection of ethnic data is prohibited by law in the Netherlands, therefore it is not clear how many Roma live in the country. An estimation by authorities mentions that there are between 20,000 and 40,000 persons, which is approximately 0.24% of the Dutch population. Apart from those living in the Netherlands before WWII, the community became bigger over the years, with mainly Roma coming from Eastern Europe and the Balkans, in successive migrations waves in the 1960s, 1990s, and 2000s.
Roma in the Netherlands are not recognised as a national minority. Most of them have Dutch nationality, but among them, there is a significant number of Roma people who are stateless or have unknown nationalities.
Key problems:
The diversity of the Roma community is reflected also in the challenges they are confronted with, ranging from access to mobile housing for Travelers; access to employment for the Roma, and difficulty in accessing public services of any kind for the stateless.
The current NRIS is a memorandum describing the public policies relevant to improving the position of Roma and Sinti in the Netherlands. The document is including mainly mainstream policies with some specific Roma-targeted measures. Compared with the previous one, the current NRIS mentions the national efforts on combating racism and antigypsyism, in particular, and some targeted measures aimed at improving the access to labour market and education for the youth. More efforts are needed in involving the community to actively participate in finding solutions and accessing mainstream programs to address housing, education, and employment challenges.
Policies in the Netherlands for the Equality, Inclusion, and Participation of Roma and Sinti. (2021, Government of the Netherlands, in Dutch)
RCM Coordinator:
RCM coalition members:
- Radio Patrin, Amsterdam
- Step-up4Youth, Lelystad
- Zas Angle, Amsterdam
- Sinti Roma Woonwagenbewoners, Amsterdam
- International Step by Step Association / Roma Early Years Network, Leiden
RCM 2 (2021-2025) reports:
Roma Civil Monitor (2022) Civil society monitoring report on the quality of the national strategic framework for Roma equality, inclusion, and participation in the Netherlands. ENGLISH – DUTCH
Poster presenting main findings of the report (2022):
RCM 1 (2017-2020) reports:
Roma Civil Monitor (2017) Civil society monitoring report on implementation of the national Roma integration strategies in the Netherlands: Focusing on structural and horizontal preconditions for successful implementation of the strategy. ENGLISH
Roma Civil Monitor (2018) Civil society monitoring report on implementation of the national Roma integration strategy in the Netherlands: Assessing the progress in four key policy areas of the strategy. ENGLISH
Roma Civil Monitor (2020) Civil society monitoring report on implementation of the national Roma integration strategy in the Netherlands: Identifying blind spots in Roma inclusion policy. ENGLISH