8. Different human rights monitoring bodies have previously expressed concern about nationality deprivation policy and practice in the Netherlands. In 2019, the Human Rights Committee (HRC) expressed concern “about the amendments to the Dutch Nationality Act, which provide for the revocation, in absentia, of the Dutch nationality of dual nationals based on information that they have left the country to voluntarily join the military service of a foreign State or a terrorist organization, and the implications that this would have for their family members”. 14 Accordingly, it recommended that the Netherlands “should regularly review its counter-terrorism legislative measures, with a view to assessing their human rights impact and bringing those measures and judicial safeguards on their manner of application into line with international due process standards and the provisions of the Covenant, and ensure meaningful participation of civil society in the process. In particular, it should revise the Dutch Nationality Act with a view to ensuring effective safeguards against arbitrary loss of nationality and discriminatory effects as well as the effective exercise of the right to appeal.”15 9. Following his visit to the Netherlands in 2020, the UN Special Rapporteur (SR) on freedom of religion or belief noted that “Dutch dual nationals reported that their freedom of movement was often limited by fears that travel to regions deemed to be security threats under the Acts on nationality and on temporary administrative counterterrorism would lead to revocation of their Dutch citizenship.”16 In addition, and after her visit to the Netherlands in 2020, the SR on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance voiced her concerns as follows: “[a]lthough being neutral on the face of it, the Netherlands’ citizenship-stripping legislation, policies and procedures apply only to citizens with dual nationality and therefore disproportionately affect Netherlanders of Moroccan and Turkish descent. Because of its limited applicability, citizenship-stripping legislation in the Netherlands aggravates stereotypes of terrorism by associating terrorism with people of certain ethnic and national origins. The associated policies and their effects are incompatible with international human rights principles of equality and non-discrimination. […] citizenship-stripping orders are based primarily on information gathered by the security services and that the individuals affected only have recourse through an appeal to administrative courts on procedural grounds. Such a limited review prevents access to an effective remedy. Those facing a citizenship-stripping order should have access to sufficient information and appeals processes to challenge the order.”17 10. Moreover, on the basis of Article 5 of CERD, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination recommended the Netherlands in 2021 to “[t]ake measures to ensure that its policy of stripping dual nationality is only applied with regard to grave criminal offences, does not lead to statelessness, is subject to effective legal remedies, and does not lead to discriminatory effects based on race, ethnicity, national origin or descent.”18 14 UN Human Rights Committee, ‘Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of the Netherlands’ (22 August 2019) CCPR/C/NLD/CO/5, para 50, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CCPR/C/NLD/CO/5&Lang=En 15 ibid, para 51. 16 UN Human Rights Council, ‘Visit to the Netherlands – Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief’ (12 February 2020) A/HRC/43/48/Add.1, para 63, https://spinternet.ohchr.org/Download.aspx?SymbolNo=A/HRC/43/48/Add.1&Lang=en. 17 UN Human Rights Council, ‘Visit to the Netherlands – UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance’ (2 July 2020) A/HRC/44/57/Add.2, para 60, https://spinternet.ohchr.org/Download.aspx?SymbolNo=A/HRC/44/57/Add.2&Lang=en. 18 UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, ‘Concluding observations on the combined twenty-second to twenty-fourth periodic reports of the Kingdom of the Netherlands’ (16 November 2021) CERD/C/NLD/CO/22-24, para 26(d). 3