Dutch Council of State Advises Against Explicit Ban on Ethnic Profiling

Council's Stance on Proposed Legislation

The Dutch Council of State (Raad van State) on Monday, December 15, 2025, advised against a legislative proposal aimed at explicitly banning ethnic profiling in law. The advisory body concluded that the initiative bill, which sought to enshrine a clear prohibition, lacked sufficient 'added value' because ethnic profiling is already forbidden under existing anti-discrimination regulations.

The Council's formal advice, established on December 10, 2025, and published on its website, stated that the proposal would 'not clarify, but complicate' the current legal framework. It also suggested that it was 'not plausible that the proposal can actually contribute to a more effective approach to ethnic profiling.'

Details of the Initiative Bill

The initiative bill was submitted by Tweede Kamer member Mpanzu Bamenga of D66 and former Tweede Kamer member Willem Koops of NSC. Their proposal aimed to explicitly ban ethnic profiling within the General Administrative Law Act and the Police Act. The bill defined ethnic profiling as 'the use, without objective justification, of characteristics such as race, origin or skin color in government enforcement actions.'

The initiators sought to legally codify the norm that distinctions based on race are not permitted when selecting individuals for controls, making it applicable to all government authorities.

Reasoning Behind the Rejection

While the Council of State acknowledged the importance of combating ethnic profiling by government agencies and recognized that the practice 'unfortunately' still occurs despite existing prohibitions, it found the explanation for the bill insufficient to demonstrate its added value. The Council expressed concerns that the bill would not clarify existing bans and could create confusion, particularly regarding how a new explicit prohibition would interact with the current ban on bias in administrative decision-making.

The advisory body emphasized that discrimination is already prohibited under the Dutch Constitution, international treaties, and statutory provisions, and can be sanctioned by the courts.

Context and Prior Rulings

The initiative for the bill was partly inspired by Mpanzu Bamenga's personal experience. In April 2018, he was singled out for an additional check by the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee at Eindhoven Airport based on his skin color. Bamenga subsequently sued the Dutch state, and a higher court ruling found that the Marechaussee could not make distinctions based on race, as it violated Article 1 of the Dutch Constitution, which enshrines the principle of equal treatment.

This landmark ruling by the Court of Appeal in The Hague on February 14, 2023, prohibited the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee from using ethnicity as a criterion for selecting individuals at border controls, overturning an earlier decision. The court deemed the practice a form of racial discrimination.