28 September 2011: International Right To Know Day (03-10-2011)
THE HAGUE. On 28 September 2011 conferences and debates were held all over the world to celebrate the Right To Know Day (RTK Day). The focus of the events is the importance of the right to information. Internationally, RTK Day began on 28 September 2002 in Sofia, Bulgaria at an international meeting of access to information advocates who pr...

Issues of Dutch PKIOverheid certificates compromised: major impact on privacy for internet users (07-09-2011)
THE HAGUE. On 5 September 2011 the Dutch Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Mr. Donner, announced that issue of PKIOverheid certificates by the company DigiNotar had been compromised. These certificates serve to provide a reliable identification of websites (the “padlock”) and secure mutual traffic between computers. A digital burgl...

Court of Appeal The Hague: The State of the Netherlands is responsible for the death of three Muslim men after the fall of Srebrenica (18-07-2011)
THE HAGUE. On 5 July 2011 the Court of Appeal of The Hague passed judgment on appeal on the question whether the State is responsible for the death of three Muslim men in 1995. The men had sought refuge in the Dutchbat compound but were later murdered by the Bosnian Serbs under the command of General Mladi?. The Court judges that the State is re...

European Court of Human Rights: Seizure of Dutch journalist’s confidential photographs illegal (07-10-2010)
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decided in a Grand Chamber judgment on 14 September 2010, that the seizure of a journalist’s confidential photographs by the Dutch police was illegal. Sanoma Uitgevers B.V., a Dutch publishing company, took their case to the ECHR after police seized photographs taken during an illegal car race, whi...

ECHR: Dutch businessman properly convicted by Dutch court as an accomplice in Iraqi Mustard Gas Attack (12-08-2010)
STRASBOURG. On July 6, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights (‘the Court’) declared that the application, lodged by Dutch businessman Frans van Anraat against the Netherlands, was inadmissible. In the 1980s, Van Anraat supplied the Iraqi government with the chemical thiodiglycol, used to produce mustard gas. He became Iraq’s sole suppl...

UN declares the right to water and sanitation to be a human right (05-08-2010)
NEW YORK. On July 28 2010, the United Nations General Assembly (GA) declared that the right to clean water and proper sanitation is a human right. Currently, around 844 million people do not have access to clean water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation facilities. This causes approximately 1.5 million deaths each year in children unde...

Dutch Supreme Court quashes earlier judgment concerning war crimes in Liberia (06-05-2010)
On April 20 2010, the Dutch Supreme Court (Hoge Raad) examined a judgment by the Court of Appeals of The Hague concerning the alleged involvement in war crimes by a Dutch national. The Hoge Raad eventually quashed the earlier judgment, stating that the request of the public prosecution office to refer the case to the examining magistrate to hea...

UN Human Rights Committee examines civil and political rights implementation in the Netherlands (23-07-2009)
GENEVA. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has examined the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in the Netherlands. In addition to the 4th periodic report of the Dutch government, a group of Dutch NGOs submitted a so-called shadow report and an addendum to this report to inform the Committee ...

Supreme Court of The Netherlands: conviction Van A. for supplying mustard gas to Saddam Hussein (06-07-2009)
THE HAGUE. On 30 June 2009 the Supreme Court of The Netherlands ruled that a businessman, Van A., had been rightfully charged an accessory to the violations of the laws and customs of war, resulting in killings and inflicting grievous bodily harm. The Supreme Court also ruled that a Dutch Court has jurisdiction to judge a case concerning crimin...

Amsterdam Court of Appeal orders the criminal prosecution of Member of Parliament Geert Wilders (22-01-2009)
AMSTERDAM. On 21 January 2009 the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam ordered the criminal prosecution of the Member of Parliament Geert Wilders for the incitement to hatred and discrimination based on his statements in various media about Muslims and their belief. In addition, the Court of Appeal considers criminal prosecution obvious for the insult o...

United Nations critical on human rights situation in Kingdom of the Netherlands (27-06-2008)
GENEVA. On Friday 18 April 2008 the UN-Human Rights Council (HRC) accepted unanimously a report with 31 recommendations for the improvement of the human rights situation in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The recommendations are the result of the human rights examination (Universal Periodic Review) of the Dutch government on 15 April. The govern...

Human rights exam of the Netherlands completed, but not over yet… (26-06-2008)
GENEVA. On 11 June 2008 the recommendations of the UN-Human Rights Council (HRC) to the government of the Netherlands were adopted by consensus during the plenary session of the HRC. The recommendations are based on the human rights exam (Universal Periodic Review) taken by The Netherlands on 15 April 2008. In the plenary session NGOs had the ri...

European Sections of the International Commissions of Jurists develop cooperation strategy (09-05-2008)
On Friday 14 and Saturday 15 March six European sections of the International Commissions of Jurists (ICJ) - including the NJCM - and representatives from the ICJ met in Leiden, the Netherlands to explore the possibilities for closer cooperation to increase their influence at European level. Colleagues from Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, ...

The Netherlands to be examinated by the Human Rights Council on April 15th, 2008 (10-04-2008)
The United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution 60/251, mandated the Human Rights Council to "undertake a universal periodic review, based on objective and reliable information, of the fulfilment by each State of its human rights obligations and commitments in a manner which ensures universality of coverage and equal treatment with respec...

Dutch Court convicts businessman for violating UN arms embargo against Liberia (13-06-2006)
THE HAGUE. The District Court of The Hague convicted the Dutch businessman Guus K. on Wednesday for violating the UN arms embargo against Liberia and sentenced him to eight years in prison. The Court, however, acquitted Guus K. of war crime charges. The Court found that the accused, who traded in timber in Liberia had, together with others,...

The Netherlands elected as a member of the UN Human Rights Council (16-05-2006)
NEW YORK. On 9 May The Netherlands was elected as a member of the UN Human Rights Council. The Dutch candidacy was supported by 137 members of the General Assembly. The new council has 47 members. In accordance with resolution 60/251 of the General Assembly, 13 of the seats on the Council belong to the African Group, 13 seats to the Asian Gr...

Police in Belarus arrest hundreds of demonstrators; EU and United States announce sanctions (30-03-2006)
MINSK. Riot police in the Belarusian capital Minsk arrested hundreds of persons on Friday, ending a demonstration for freedom, justice and democracy. A second demonstration, on Saturday, was also swept away by the police. Again hundreds of demonstrators were arrested and loaded onto trucks. Among those arrested was opposition leader Aleksand...

Demonstrations for freedom, justice and democracy in Belarus continue (22-03-2006)
MINSK. For the past three days, hundreds of persons have participated in demonstrations for freedom, justice and democracy in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. The demonstrations started after the publication of the official results of the presidential elections on Sunday. According to the results, the incumbent president Alexander Lukashenko w...

Toxicological investigation: no poison found in blood of Slobodan Milosevic (20-03-2006)
THE HAGUE. Results of a toxicological examination following the death of former President of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic do not indicate that he was poisoned. This follows from the provisional findings concerning the death of S. Milosevic issued by The Hague District Public Prosecutor’s Office, which were published by the International ...

Dutchman Van A. sentenced to fifteen years of imprisonment for complicity to crimes of war in Iraq (02-01-2006)
THE HAGUE. On 23 December, 2005 the District Court of The Hague sentenced the Dutchman Van A. to fifteen years of imprisonment for complicity to crimes of war in Iraq. During the 1980’s Van A. delivered chemicals to Iraq which were used for the production of poison-gas. The court acquitted Van A. from complicity to genocide. In the vie...

Dutch bill: glamorization and denial of very serious crimes become punishable (01-08-2005)
THE HAGUE. The Dutch minister of Justice, Piet Hein Donner, has published a bill which makes glamorizing, extenuating, trivializing or denying very serious crimes punishable. The bill, which was published on 28 July, was announced in a letter to parliament on 10 November 2004 in which the government announced several counter-terrorism measures. ...

Referendum in the Netherlands: a majority votes against the European Constitution (02-06-2005)
THE HAGUE. A majority of voters in the Netherlands has rejected the European Constitution. A provisional final result of the referendum on Wednesday evening showed that 61.6 % voted ‘yes’; 38.4 % voted ‘no’. The turnout was 62.8 %. In a first reaction Prime Minister Balkenende said that he was “very disappointedR...

Report of the Conference ‘Combating Terrorism with Human Rights’ (01-06-2005)
THE HAGUE. On 8 April 2005 the Dutch section of the International Commission of Jurists (NJCM) organised the conference ‘Combating Terrorism with Human Rights’. The conference highlighted the tension between the fight against terrorism and the importance of protecting human rights. The conference, which was attended by more than 200 ...

Conference 'Combating Terrorism with Human Rights' in The Hague (01-02-2005)
LEIDEN. On 8 April 2005 the Dutch section of the International Commission of Jurists presents its 30th Anniversary Conference on Combating Terrorism with Human Rights. Is the international and Dutch legal system able to deal with current expressions of terrorism? The conference will highlight the tension between the fight against terrorism an...

Debate on blasphemy in Dutch parliament after murder on Van Gogh (21-11-2004)
THE HAGUE. Dutch members of parliament debated Wednesday about blasphemy in response to a series of violent incidents after the murder on filmmaker Van Gogh. The minister of Justice, Donner, had announced that he wanted to revive a clause on blasphemy to ‘curb hateful comments’. According to this clause, insulting a person’...

ICJ adopts Declaration on Upholding Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Combating Terrorism (12-09-2004)
BERLIN.The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has adopted a ‘Declaration on Upholding Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Combating Terrorism’. The Declaration highlights the challenge to the rule of law brought about by recent counter-terrorism measures and many old counter-terrorism laws. The Declaration, adopted on 28 Aug...

New NJCM English news page (01-09-2004)
LEIDEN. From now on, NJCM has it's own news page for English speakers. We will do our best to keep international readers posted on relevant information on human rights. NJCM is short for Nederlands Juristen Comitéoor de Mensenrechten (Netherlands Committee of Jurists for Human Rights). The NJCM is the Dutch section of the International Commi...