The below article from De Telegraaf describes the situation for women in Amsterdam when they go out in public. They are being subjected to sexual harassment, insults, and physical molestation. What is missing in this article (unless you read between the lines) is who is responsible for the incidents? The reader should also know that Mayor Halsema, who is mentioned and quoted, is politically correct in the extreme. She thinks that identification of the perpetrators as being Muslim immigrants is racist. But that is the truth of the situation.
https://www.telegraph.nl/nieuws/204421787/helft-amsterdamse-vrouwen-op-straat-geintimideerd
Mayor Halsema: Great concern for their safety
Half of Amsterdam women intimidated on street
Amsterdam- The city leadership of Amsterdam is greatly concerned over the safety of girls and women in Amsterdam. According to Mayor Halsema, girls and young women are being confronted with sexual intimidation or violence in increasing numbers. Therefore, she is announcing measures.
Research shows that 51% of women in Amsterdam have been confronted with street intimidation. For the ages 15 to 34, the percentage is 81%. Especially around the Central Station, by the red-light district, around the Leidseplein (Square), Bijlmer, Jan Evertsenstraat (Street) and the Mercatorplein (Square) are places where many reports come from. Also online there is a large increase of sexual harassment and violence.
Halsema states that for a smaller group of girls and women the situation in Amsterdam is "really alarming and almost hopeless due to a negative spiral of abuse and violence, sometimes extended over several generations." The most unsafe place for women is at home, many perpetrators are ( ex) partners or family members. In Amsterdam, for example, the number of registered violent incidents went up by 7 percent: from 6,183 in 2017 to 6,608 in 2018.
Greater readiness to report
The figures are a reason for Halsema to begin a campaign, the focus of which, is victims of sexual intimidation and violence, on the street or online. One of the aims is to create more readiness to report, so that the police and the Public Prosecution Service can conduct investigations. A personal approach is also being launched for girls who have been multiple victims of sexual violence.
Halsema is also entering into talks with the hotel-restaurant and night club industry because personnel are likely to see practises of pinching, intimidation and abuse. "Most do not count this as one of their responsibilities."
Search for safe places
For victims, safe places to live and be sheltered have become the most sought after-even outside the city. Social workers are also encouraged to work differently. "Social workers and parents often have little control, and there also seems to be a professional inability, whereby the problems are incompletely recognized or cases where people work past each. other," says the mayor. In addition, the existing area ban that the mayor is now putting on notorious nuisance offenders will also be put in place for people who annoyingly hang around near a shelter for vulnerable girls, or who are demonstrably sexually intrusive on the street.
Social workers and parents often have little control
The causes of sexual intimidation and violence are, just like the situations in which the victims (find themselves) are diverse, writes Halsema. Along with classical patterns of power inequality, based on tradition or physical strength, in Amsterdam, "reactionary ideas about the equality of men and women reappear".
She refers to a study in which is written how upcoming religious fundamentalists and secular secular extreme-right movements encourage and justify hate toward women. "Under the mask of a restoration of traditional role patterns, whereby women are subordinate to the demands and wishes of of men, a woman's 'no' is openly doubted or ignored. With the presence of religious fundamentalism in our (local) society, there is even talk of the re-entry of the age-old and forbidden phenomena such as forced marriages and female circumcision."
"Walking hand in hand can be dangerous"
Halsema writes that almost every Amsterdam woman has felt unsafe, either in public space or in the private domain. "The same goes for LGBHQ (people). Walking hand in hand can be risky. Being alone you can put your safety and physical integrity at risk. Not only on the street, but also behind closed doors, in houses, hotels and schools, the security and freedom of a portion of Amsterdammers cannot always be guaranteed. This is not just sad, it is also unacceptable."
Halsema writes that almost every Amsterdam woman has felt unsafe, either in public space or in the private domain. "The same goes for LGBHQ (people). Walking hand in hand can be risky. Being alone you can put your safety and physical integrity at risk. Not only on the street, but also behind closed doors, in houses, hotels and schools, the security and freedom of a portion of Amsterdammers cannot always be guaranteed. This is not just sad, it is also unacceptable."
Walking hand in hand can be risky. By being alone, your safety and physical integrity can be at stake. Not only on the street, but also behind closed doors, in houses, hotels, and schools, the security and freedom of some of the people of Amsterdam are by no means always guaranteed. This is not only sad, it is also unacceptable."
Amsterdam earlier introduced a ban on street intimidation, but it is not enforced in the capital city because the court in the Hague earlier ruled that the similar Rotterdam provision is not legally valid. According to the judges, such a ban can only be introduced by the Second and First Chambers (Parliament).
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