NETHERLANDS MENTIONED IN AMNESTY ANNUAL REPORT

In the annual report for 2005, Amnesty International states that the Dutch treatment of asylum seekers and the stricter terrorism legislation are a reason to be worried. It is the first time since 1996, that the Netherlands reappears in the annual report of the human rights organisation. According to Amnesty International terrorism is used as an excuse to violate human rights in many states

The Netherlands is mentioned in the report because of the extradition of Mohammed A. to the United States and because of forgetting to offer Abd-al Rahman al Musa the possibility to ask for asylum, before he was extradited to Syria. For both man, an honest trial was not guaranteed.
 
Also the fire in a jail for asylum seekers on the Amsterdam airport earlier this year is mentioned in the report. In the fire 11 people died and it is still not sure what happened and what mistakes were made by the authorities. Before any research was done, the Minister of Immigration Rita Verdonk stated in a press conference straight after the fire, that her civil servants were not to be blamed. 

About the fire in the airport jail Amnesty states: ‘We want to ask international attention for the detention policy for immigrants in The Netherlands. The airport fire illustrates that things go wrong in The Netherlands. Also the intended anti-terror measures, making the apology (approval) liable to punishment and the measures to make the maximum custody for terrorist crimes longer, is criticised.

It is the first time that European countries are widely mentioned in the Amnesty annual report. From the 25 member states, only Denmark and Luxemburg are not mentioned. Most of the European states are criticised for similar matters: 'the far-reaching anti-terrorism legislation and the expulsion of suspects to countries where torture occurs and where one does not get an honest trial'.

The spokesman of Amnesty in The Netherlands says that, ‘The EU is propagating the high standards in the field of human rights, but than the policies should be internally sound. It seems that this is not the case anymore'.

There are also some positive developments mentioned in the report. The British law court prohibited a law where it would become possible to use evidence obtained via torture in the court. And the EU started a research after the cooperation of European states helping the US to expel prisoners to countries were it is probable that they will encounter torture and no just trial.

In the annual report Amnesty is hopeful about the first arrest warrants for crimes against humanity and war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Also the fact that the death penalty is abolished in more and more countries - last year in Mexico and Liberia - is seen as a possitive development. more features

May 30, 2006