Flemish lawmakers have approved a resolution to "map" racism by monitoring biased or discriminatory incidents across different activity sectors.
The resolution was passed by a majority of MPs in the regional parliament and received the backing of the ruling coalition N-VA, CD&V and Open Vld.
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The aim of the proposal will be to gather data about incidents of discrimination in companies or in sectors like the labour market in order to later create sector-specific "agreements" to combat discriminatory practices.
The data would be gathered by an independent and academic monitoring system, VRT reports.
While it remains unclear the channels through which the data will be collected, lawmakers agreed the system should avoid "putting shame on landlords, realtors or companies."
A proposal to carry out fieldwork such as on-site unannounced inspections was voted down, drawing criticism from opposition parties Groen, sp.a and PDVA.
"Colleagues, the time of big words is over, now it's time to act," Groen MP Hannelore Goeman wrote on Twitter, calling out the liberal Open Vld for rejecting the proposal.
Work Minister Hilde Crevits supported the resolution and said on Twitter that she was working with different activity sectors to develop a "decisive anti-discrimination policy."
"Based on the monitoring, we can make fine-tuned agreements per sector, without putting shame on employers, brokers or landlords. This is also how we continue to build support for discrimination," the lawmakers said.
The Brussels Times
