A third of young immigrants want to leave the Netherlands, according to a Motivaction study commissioned by Forum, the institute for multicultural development, among 792 immigrant and 200 ethnic Dutch aged 15-35.
According to the Contact Organ Muslims and Government (CMO), a part will wait in Belgium and France will immigrants again have a better image in the Netherlands. About 40% of immigrant and ethnic Dutch youth think that the mutual relations will get worse in the coming years. they expect that incidents between groups of youth of different origin will get worse.
Regarding their identity, no more than a third of Surinamese and Antillians said they feel Dutch. By Turks that was 19% and by Moroccans 23%.
Sadik Harchaoui of Forum recognizes that the report doesn't paint a rose-colored picture. "The departure of these youth, mostly highly educated, is bad for the economy. A lot of property is never gotten from pessimism." Turks prefer going back to their parent's homeland, Morrocans don't care as much and just want to leave. Despite a greater feeling of Dutchness among Antillians, the wish to leave among them is the highest down the line.
The number don't surprise the CMO, which represents a large number of Turkish and Moroccan national organizations. "It's a reaction to the current discussion which lays a strong emphasis on problem youth among young immigrants. Immigrants have the feeling that they're less welcome in the Netherlands than five years ago. I see dozens of young people leaving, especially highly educated, to Belgium and France," says chairman Driss el Boujoufi.
"They hold a Dutch passport and do want to come back again, when immigrants won't be placed wholesale in bad light. Eight years ago nobody thought of leaving."
According to El Boujoufi there's been an enormous change in the last few years, such as the rise of Pim Fortuyn and Geert Wilders, who have changed the tone of the discussion about integration and that can now bee seen in the data.
He says Fortuyn started off a good development, and we can now stop taking into consideration the culture of denying and ignoring problems. The concept of respect has been used for too long in order to prevent talking about mistakes. The issue is now only that in addition we should begin building up and naming positive issues.
Almost half the youth think that mutual relations between immigrants and ethnic Dutch will get worse in the upcoming years. Among Moroccans 66% thought so. Indeed, Moroccan youth, especially under 25, were most negative on many issues.
Source: Telegraaf (Dutch)
See also: Netherlands: Back to Turkey