Europe Netherlands The national statistics agency CBS has stated that an increasing number of people have left the central urban belt of the Netherlands, moving to rural areas
Europe Netherlands The Netherlands is no longer a world leader when it comes to the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community, as this year it ranked 13th in the annual Rainbow Europe index of the human rights organisation Ilga Europe
Europe Netherlands The country will not extend residence permits to non-Ukrainians who had a temporary residence permit in Ukraine before leaving the country to "ease the burden on municipalities"
Europe Netherlands Gambling advertisements will be severely restricted as of 2023 and a ban on sponsoring sports team jerseys will be introduced in 2025, as stated by the Minister of Legal Protection
Europe Netherlands Young transgender people, some even as young as 14, are buying drugs online to start transitioning on their own as waiting times for official treatment are very long; waits can be longer than 3 years, NOS reports after interviewing over 700 people
Europe Netherlands A new night train connecting Amsterdam and Barcelona is planned; proposed by the start-up European Sleeper, it could be launched by December 2023 or earlier, according to the company's application to the Dutch Consumer and Market Authority
Europe Netherlands The FNV - Netherlands Trade Union Confederation - wants the government to set aside €150 million to compensate 4.800 people, mostly care workers, who may lose their jobs due to the effects of Long Covid
Europe Netherlands Two years after it emerged that Orthodox Protestant schools required parents to sign a covenant rejecting homosexuality, the number of schools with an anti-gay charter increased from 29 to 36, as the news programme Pointer discovered
Europe Netherlands A large majority of Dutch MEPs in the House of Representatives opposed the European Commission's plan to bring in more migrant workers from North Africa to cope with labour shortages
Europe Netherlands Amnesty International and the KNVB - the Netherlands Football Association - condemned the Qatari hotels that refuse gay couples during the World Cup
Europe Netherlands Workers at the port of Amsterdam are refusing to unload a Russian oil tanker, sailing under the flag of the Marshall Islands and therefore exempt from sanctions, which was previously refused berth in a Swedish port
Europe Netherlands The number of sex crimes reported to police has risen by more than 25% since The Voice of Holland sex scandal broke; in total, police received 4.000 reports in the first three months of this year, 1.100 more than in the same period in 2021
Europe Netherlands Children detained at the Ter Apel refugee centre live in "unacceptable conditions" and face "mental neglect", said children's ombudsman Margrite Kalverboer