Prohibition of discrimination among LGBTI people and the disabled is explicitly included in the Constitution | Politics

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Jan 17, 2023 at 2:13 PM

Article 1 of the Constitution explicitly states that people may not be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or disability. The Senate approved that proposal on Tuesday. Interest groups speak of a historic victory.

It was already forbidden to discriminate against these groups of people, but that was not yet explicitly stated. Interest groups therefore fought for years for this addition to the law. From now on, the government must explicitly take disability and sexual orientation into account in discrimination cases and when testing legislation and regulations.

The proposal was submitted by D66, GroenLinks and PvdA. Because it concerns a constitutional amendment, both the House of Representatives and the Senate had to vote twice. First before the elections, then again after the elections. That last time, a two-thirds majority had to support the proposal, and that has now happened.

What has been written in Article 1 of the Constitution so far?

“All who are in the Netherlands are treated equally in equal cases. Discrimination on the basis of religion, belief, political opinion, race, gender or on any other basis is not permitted.”

Society should be accessible to everyone

“Adding the disability basis to Article 1 is historic news,” Illya Soffer, director of Elke(in), told NU.nl. Elke(in) is the network for people with a disability or chronic illness. “The government is given an additional task to permanently improve and strengthen the position of people with disabilities. Not only in legislation, but also in practice.”

According to Soffer, this is badly needed, because people with disabilities still experience discrimination and exclusion on a daily basis. For example, blind people with an assistance dog often experience difficulties. For example, assistance dogs often have to stay outside at hotels, schools, restaurants and in the GP’s waiting room.

People with disabilities also experience difficulty in finding suitable work. According to ElkeIn, this group is still regularly rejected because of their disability.

In addition, the expansion of Article 1 also creates more awareness, says Soffer. “It is necessary to make society accessible to everyone.”

‘Guarantee that rights will last for years’

In addition to Elke(in), the LGBTI organization COC has worked for years to amend the constitution for the rights of the LGBTI community. “Embedding in the Constitution offers a guarantee that we will still be able to enjoy our hard-won rights in fifty or a hundred years’ time,” said COC chairman Astrid Oosenburg.

She also calls the amendment to the Constitution “a task for today’s politicians to tackle discriminatory violence, bullying in schools and other forms of discrimination”.

A similar bill was also submitted in 2010, but it did not receive a majority of the votes.

‘Discrimination on any ground is not allowed’

According to the initiators, the fact that sexual orientation and having a disability were not yet explicitly included in the Constitution gives the impression that these forms of discrimination are less important than others. This while the position of these groups still has to improve considerably.

Yet some politicians feel that specifically mentioning disability and sexual orientation would limit Article 1. SP member Tiny Kox wonders whether the law is now ‘finished’ and what this means for the discrimination prohibitions that are not explicitly included in the law.

“Everyone before the law and in the law is equal. Discrimination on any ground is not allowed,” said Annabel Nanninga (JA21) during a Senate debate on the proposal in December. She finds the change in the law purely symbolic. Her group prefers to see all grounds removed from the article of the law.

Beeld: Getty Images

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