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 government is not obliged to accept and implement all recommendations. It has to decide which recommendations it is willing to accept by next June.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands was one of the first countries ever to be reviewed by the HRC in Geneva, Switzerland. The exam of the Netherlands was based on the State report and reports by civil society. The only report by Dutch NGOs was written by the NJCM and supported by twelve other Dutch human rights organizations. The aim of the review was to examine whether and how the Netherlands is complying with international human rights standards. The delegation of the Netherlands was questioned for three hours, among other issues on the increase of islamofobia and other forms of discrimination, violence against women and children, rights of migrants, the consequences of counter-terrorism measures and human trafficking.

The HRC was content about the open attitude of the Dutch government during the exam. Contrary to some other States under review, the Dutch government replied to all questions posed by the member States. However, it did not immediately adopt all recommendations, as for example Ecuador had done as a token of good faith for this new human rights mechanism.

The HRC - facilitated by the Troika of Pakistan, Peru en Nigeria - in its recommendations urges the Netherlands to take action on, among other issues:

• To increase its efforts to prevent acts of discrimination against migrants and improve the integration of minorities.
• To inform the UN on the human rights situation in the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba as part of the Kingdom. For example on the position of women and torture in prisons. The Dutch government has not done so in the past, because the oversees territories are autonomous and it says it lacks the capacity for it. The United Kingdom, that has experience with reporting on oversees territories, offered the Dutch government to advise them on this issue. The Netherlands accepted the offer.
• To continue to promote awareness of diversity and multiculturalism at all levels of education
• While implementing anti-terrorism measures, respect international human rights obligations.
• Ratify human rights treaties, as the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict.
• Address the issue of demand in the destination country in order to be successful in the fight against trafficking in persons.
• Take necessary steps to establish a national human rights institution.
• Accelerate efforts in increasing female representation in top positions in the senior public service to 25 per cent by 2011.
• Complete investigations about civil and criminal implications concerning the release of the film ‘Fitna’ and initiate prosecution of the author in accordance with Dutch law.

The delegation of the Netherlands was headed by H.E. Ms. Nebahat Albayrak, State Secretary for Justice, Ministry of Justice. In her closing remarks Ms. Albayrak stated that the promotion and protection of human rights is a continuous process. Therefore the Dutch government promised not to wait until the next UPR-session to report on the implementation of the recommendations but is willing to do this in a mid-term review.

Mrs. Quirine Eijkman, vice-president of the NJCM says that human rights organisations should play an advising role in this mid-term review and is looking forward to the implementation of the recommendations.

After the review of the Netherlands two Dutch NGOs, Justice and Peace Netherlands and the NJCM, and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) held a parallel event to give independent organisations a voice in the UPR-process. Ms. Maria Lourijsen of the NJCM presented the NGO-report, while Lukas Machon from the ICJ gave his view of the UPR as a human rights mechanism. Ms. Albayrak and the Dutch Human Rights Ambassador, Mr. Hamburger contributed to the meeting by giving a presentation on the human rights situation in the Netherlands and their hopes and fears for the UPR-process..

‘With this meeting the NJCM and Justice and Peace Netherlands wanted to show that NGOs can make a constructive contribution to the development of the UPR towards an open and effective instrument’, says Ms. Friederycke Haijer from Justice and Peace Netherlands.

Although the active contribution by NGOs was guaranteed institutionally at the time of the founding of the Human Rights Council, the practice has shown that the role that NGOs and other stakeholders are allowed to play is very small and was gradually restricted during the first session. For example, the NGO-reports were summarized without NGOs having any say in the text and could only be referred to on the website in footnotes. Also, NGOs did not have the right to speak during the state reviews and critical NGOs were actively banned from the building due to a strong opposition by a coalition of member States led by Egypt, Pakistan, and South Africa.

In his presentation Mr. Lukas Machon (ICJ) gave eight practical suggestions to overcome the obstacles of the first UPR-session. process. You can find his presentation in the footnotes.

SOURCES

• Link to OHCHR
• Link to the Dutch page on the HRC-website