Human rights: not only a matter of foreign policy

24 maart 2010

Is it credible to preach human rights abroad when your own house is not in order? Particularly if you say "Human rights are for everyone, everywhere, always," as Minister Verhagen did yesterday during the presentation of his annual human rights report in the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. But while Verhagen is actively promoting human rights abroad, the United Nations and the Council of Europe criticize Holland for its human rights performance.

Human rights are not only a matter of foreign affairs. Human rights are a responsibility of the Dutch government as a whole. Yet, other departments are not as enthusiastic about human rights as our foreign minister. Former minister of internal affairs Guusje ter Horst had the questionable honour of being awarded the Big Brother Award in February this year for transforming Holland into a control society, prioritizing security to the detriment of the privacy of individual citizens. According to Bits of Freedom, a citizen's initiative that awards the price, when the police, in contravention of international law, collects and stores private data, the Minister’s answer would typically be "let's adapt the law."

Over the past couple of years, the United Nations has raised serious concern about The Netherlands’ compliance with international human rights standards. For instance,in February this year, the committee that monitors compliance with the convention on the elimination of discrimination against women, expressed concern about the persistence of gender-role and racial stereotypes and about the fact that perpetrators of domestic violence against women have free access to legal aid while the victims do not. The committee was surprised at the 'very low representation of women' in municipal councils and local and provincial governments as well as in high-ranking posts, especially the diplomatic service and the security and defence sectors. The committee advised Holland to temporarily adopt special measures to enhance the participation of women in political and public decision-making at all levels. This committee is not alone in its findings. The committee that monitors compliance with the international covenant on civil and political rights concluded in 2009 that the participation of women in the labour market remains considerably lower than men and that women receive significantly lower pay for equal work than men. The committee noted the lack of adequate safeguards in relation to medical experimentation requiring the involvement of children. It also criticized Holland for not granting suspects the right to counsel during police questioning and allowing for pre-trial detention of terrorism suspects for up to two years. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that monitors compliance with the Convention on the rights of the child, regretted the lack of a comprehensive national strategy to prevent the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and criticized the lack of legislation criminalizing the production or dissemination of materials advertising the sale of children, child pornography and child prostitution.

The European Council already raised similar concerns after a visit of its human rights commissioner Hammarberg to the Netherlands in 2008. Hammarberg produced a scathing report on different issues including the treatment of asylum seekers, anti-terrorism measures, discrimination and racism. He criticized restrictions of the right to privacy through the use of anonymous security services witnesses in judicial proceedings, and the broad powers to collect data on persons not suspected of a crime or posing a threat, and the collection of data through intrusive and secret means such as telephone tapping and the use of profiling techniques without being subject to a strict proportionality and necessity test, and without judicial approval or oversight.

It is time we take human rights seriously. Not only as a matter of foreign policy but as the core of all our policies. Human rights are for everyone, everywhere, always. Also in Amsterdam, The Hague and Groningen. This is the challenge for our new government.