Report: Muslims Integral to Fabric of Rotterdam but Face Growing Hostility in the Rest of the Netherlands

ROTTERDAM—Increasing religious prejudice and intolerance towards Muslims are hindering integration efforts in Rotterdam, according to a report released today by the At Home in Europe Project of the Open Society Foundations.

Muslims in Rotterdam focuses on the neighborhood of Feijenoord, one of the poorest areas in the southern part of the city. The research explores the everyday experiences of Feijenoord’s inhabitants and analyzes a number of important policy measures and initiatives taking place in Rotterdam, the second largest city in the Netherlands. There are approximately 1 million Muslims in the Netherlands, representing 5.8 percent of the total population of the country.

According to the research, Muslims have a strong sense of belonging to their neighborhood and city despite facing increasing discrimination when trying to find jobs, quality schools, and health care.

Muslims, or those who are seen as Muslims, remain the subject and scapegoat for society’s problems even though they share the same day-to-day concerns as other Dutch groups,” said Nazia Hussain, director of the Open Society Foundations At Home in Europe Project.

“While Rotterdam has undoubtedly made considerable gains in integrating its diverse ethnic populations, many of these successes have been undercut by the recent spike in support for far-right groups from members of wider Dutch society,” said Hussain.

Key Findings

• 73.7 percent of Muslim respondents reported either a fairly strong or very strong sense of belonging to Rotterdam. Eighty percent of non-Muslims expressed a strong attachment to Rotterdam.
• The sense of belonging at the national level was lower among Muslim than among non-Muslim respondents: 24.3 percent of Muslim respondents felt a very strong sense of belonging to Rotterdam, compared with 11 percent who felt a very strong sense of belonging to the Netherlands.
• Over half of the Muslim respondents, 56.4 percent, stated that they did not feel Dutch. Of the non-Muslim respondents 23.3 percent felt the same way.
• The majority of Muslim respondents (65.5 percent) and close to half (45.5 percent) of non-Muslim respondents felt that the level of religious prejudice had increased over the past five years. The vast majority of both groups (90 percent) felt that this prejudice was mainly directed toward Muslims.

Muslims in Rotterdam involved in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with Muslim residents, local government officials, Muslim leaders, academics, journalists, and activists in the district of Feijenoord. A report looking at the situation of Muslims in Amsterdam will be released November 23.

This study is part of a series of monitoring reports entitled “Muslims in EU Cities.” The series focuses on 11 cities in the European Union with significant Muslim populations: Amsterdam, Antwerp, Berlin, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Leicester, Marseille, Paris, Rotterdam, Stockholm and the London Borough of Waltham Forest.