Huize Beurd explained that they did not intend to deter immigrants, but rather foreign students who will only live in the Netherlands for a short time. `We do not want to become a “new-blood” house,' a resident told the UT-Nieuws.
By the end of April, the ADB, after talking to police and residents, agreed to retract their police report on the condition that the residents would agree to have their case submitted to the Equal Treatment Commission. The latter wrote to Huize Beurd that they consider their choice of words a bad one, but feels the residents could successfully appeal to the exception to the ban on unequal treatment, considering it is a private house. For this reason, the committee considers it of no use for them to pronounce judgment on the case.
That is the end of it, because both Huize Beurd and the ADB Overijssel agreed to respect the opinion of the committee. To the students it is like an acquittal. Resident Stef van Hout: `We were put in the right on all issues.' He says that in the future Huize Beurd will rephrase their advertisement, because `we never intended to offend anyone.'
In a press release, the residents complained about the actions of the Anti-Discrimination Bureau, which they consider `highly unprofessional.' `The CGB and Huize Beurd concur that ADB was not in a position to file a report - not with the police and not with the CGB.'
Trans. Jeroen Latour
