The government should no longer use the terms allochtoon and autochtoon to distinguish between Dutch citizens, according to the Council for Societal Development.

Allochtoon is a Dutch word used to refer to citizens whose parents were born in another country. Autochtoon refers to citizens whose parents were born in the Netherlands. In reality, allochtoon is often applied to people of colour regardless of where their parents were born. On Tuesday, the Council for Societal Development advised the parliament that the government should no longer use the two terms, because government is no longer implementing ethnicity-specific policies.
  
In a response to the suggestion from the council, Immigration Minister Gerd Leers said that facts and figures about the origin of migrants are still necessary to determine whether measures - in the education system, for instance - are having the intended effect.

(dcf/imm)

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