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26 March 2004
AMSTERDAM — The Council of The Hague decided on Thursday night to do away with the negatively loaded word “allochtoon” (meaning migrant) and the word “autochtoon” (meaning native resident).
Instead, the city’s residents will in future be referred to as much as possible in official publications as being a Hagenaar (meaning someone who is a resident of The Hague).
The entire Council of The Hague opted to back the proposal submitted by Labour PvdA councilor Johan Chandoe, newspaper Algemeen Dagblad reported on Friday.
In cases where it is important to demonstrate from what country someone originates from, the council said the nation will be referred to by name.
The word allochtoon in the Netherlands is used to describe immigrants, but is often used to group non-western immigrants together. The word has also developed a negative connotation because it is often used in reports of problems relating to immigrants in the Netherlands.
[Copyright Expatica News 2004]
Subject: Dutch news