2013

• 16 April 2013: House of Representatives repeals provision on blasphemy

On 16 April 2013, a majority of members of the Dutch lower house voted in favour of repealing Article 147 of the Penal Code setting forth the ban on blasphemy. Representatives of the Christian Union (ChristenUnie), the Reformed Political Party (Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij) and the Christian Democrat Party (Christen Democratisch Appèl) voted against.

Article 147, which dates from the early 1930s, makes it a criminal offence to use “contemptuous” (smalend) blasphemy which publicly offends religious sensibilities. This provision had last been applied in a dispute in 1968 and the idea to abolish it was launched in June 2011 as part of a debate on freedom of expression, after the Amsterdam Court acquitted the far-right leader Geert Wilders, accused of incitement to hatred and to racial and religious discrimination. The Dutch Senate will also have to rule on the abolition.