Dutch Foreign Ministry apologises for 'institutional racism' | TRT World - Dec. 12, 2022 |

The Dutch Foreign Ministry has apologised after a report said it was infested by institutional racism, with people from ethnic backgrounds called "monkeys" and other abusive terms.

The independent report, commissioned in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, found that employees of colour often felt excluded and ignored by white colleagues at the ministry.

It said that while employees were "not usually abused in person", they often experienced "verbal aggression" by hearing others disparage people on the grounds of skin colour, religion or origin.

"A number of employees have said that people have been referred to as 'monkeys', 'bokitos', 'negroes' and 'Black Pete' because of their skin colour," the report said.
"African countries have been described by one employee as 'monkey countries.'"

Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said the report was "painful and confrontational".