A Disaster for the Netherlands

This case has been a disaster for the Netherlands, not only because it has exposed the Human Rights abuses in the Netherlands and thereby destroyed its international standing, but more so because of the long-term damage being done to inward investment, tourism and the commercial reputation of the country.

Human Rights abuses in the Netherlands affect all European Union Citizens

   A warning had been issued to businessmen, tourists and EU residents in the Netherlands following a string of Human Rights abuses in recent years. Members of the European Parliament should be aware that the constituents and citizens they represent are in grave danger of the human rights abuses that are becoming commonplace in the Netherlands.  In the past year Members of the British Parliament and British Members of the European Parliament have become aware of human rights abuses that concern British Citizens, however it is now clear that citizens from many European Union countries are similarly affected.

    One British citizen has been battling for the past decade with Dutch human rights abuses. What has happened to him could happen to any EU citizen, any businessman, tourist or foreign resident in the Netherlands - indeed to any member of any family.

    At a recent European Criminal Bar Association conference the question of Procedural Safeguards to ensure the fundamental rights of the citizen was discussed. The term “corruption lite” was used to denote the Prosecution dominated courtrooms and their poor observance of the fundamental rights of the citizen. This is now increasingly relevant due to the use of prosecution based procedures like the European Arrest Warrant. It is clear that in the Netherlands, in some cases, the corruption of fundamental rights now exist. The Dutch have clearly abandoned the European Convention on Human Rights and now deprive citizens, especially non-Dutch citizens of these rights.

    Whilst many of the Justice Ministers of the founding European Union countries may smile smugly and say that all is well in their country, this may not in truth be the case. On the 31 August 2004 the Dutch Justice Minister, Mr. Donner, was questioned by the Justice and Human Rights Committee in the Grand Chamber of the European Parliament in Brussels. One of the matters raised was the Dutch Government’s treatment of Kevin Sweeney, a British businessman who since 1995 had been fighting for justice in the Netherlands.       Mr. Donner arrogantly refused to answer questions. He refused to answer the letters of up to 100 British and European Members of Parliament. Mr. Donner said that what happens in the Netherlands, even to European Union Citizens, is only the business of the Dutch. This arrogance angered many parliamentarians and they began directly to write to the Dutch Prime Minister, Mr. Balkenende. Finally, Prime Minister Balkenende ordered Mr. Donner to respond to the questions of the parliamentarians.  Yet, even then, Mr. Donner lied in his letters to Members of the British Parliament and European Parliament, he was caught out and his lies exposed – but he has not resigned from office. Why? Does not Mr. Donner observe the same ethical and moral code as do other European Union Justice Ministers?

   For 235 days, from the July 2004 until February 2005 Kevin Sweeney had been forced into a desperate hunger strike (taking only liquids) to protest the violations (by the Dutch Government) of his European Convention human rights. What Sweeney was requesting was very simple, namely that the Dutch Government complies with the European Convention, and indeed the Dutch Constitution. He had been denied the right to correspond with his lawyers, the courts and even the British Government, he was denied the right to have his legal documents and he was denied the right to prepare his legal case and to defend himself. He had been punished with solitary confinement and isolation for writing to his lawyers. When he was on hunger strike he was put in a sensory deprivation cell. He was threatened with even worse treatment if he continued to protest. These are the most fundamental rights which were denied to him by the Dutch Government.

    Mr. Donner, the Dutch Justice Minister, was personally involved in the scandal of the Sweeney case and if in the Netherlands the Minister of Justice is refusing to uphold the Rule of Law then what hope is there for any citizen? No British Citizen, no European Union Citizen, no foreign citizen is safe in the Netherlands. When the Minister of Justice of a European Union country acts in this manner then this taints and shames the entire European Union.

    Finally, after a hunger strike of 235 days when Sweeney was close to death, the pressure from Parliamentarians from across Europe proved too much for Mr. Donner and he grudgingly agreed to obey the law. Is this how a Justice Minister in the European Union should act?  Should a European Union Citizen be forced to go on hunger strike to obtain his fundamental human rights?

What is happening in the Netherlands?

Has the Netherlands abandoned the Rule of Law

and the European Convention on Human Rights?

   Over the last year The Netherlands has received a constant stream of criticism and admonishment from politicians, diplomats and the press around the world. The cause of this censure is threefold:

    Yet, despite each and every member of the Dutch Parliament, both Upper and Lower House, being fully aware of the fact that Dutch Police, Prosecutors, Examining Magistrates and Judges are corrupt, they have done nothing. There has been no Parliamentary Enquiry; there has been no examination of those responsible before the relevant Parliamentary committees. All there has been is a stream of paltry excuses and pathetic evasion.

    Dutch Parliamentarians bleat:  “We are not responsible!”  The same pretext heard in all police states and tyrannies.

    Dutch Parliamentarians whine:  “There is a separation of the Executive, Judiciary and Legislative… We are not responsible!”  In every Western Democracy there is the same separation of the branches of State, yet in no other Western Democracy will the Parliament not legislate against the corruption of the Executive and the Judiciary.  The human rights abuses in the Netherlands are an indication of a police state and this cries out for legislation.

    Dutch Parliamentarians moan:  “You must go back to the Courts… We are not responsible!”  Yet, what happens when the Courts are corrupt, as they clearly are in the Netherlands? In every police state and tyranny the parliamentarians are fully aware of the human rights abuses and yet are only to willing to turn a blind eye.

    When the national parliament of a European Union country disclaims responsibility and is prepared to tolerate a police state, the corruption of the judiciary and human rights abuses, then it is time for that country to be suspended from the European Union.

    The democratic countries of the European Union have no wish to return to the oppression of the 1930s and 1940s and if the Netherlands cannot comply with the Rule of Law and the morality of a democratic society then it must be cast out of the European family.  The Europe of the 21st Century has no place for fascists.

The Netherlands plunges the European Union into a crisis of Foreign Affairs hypocrisy

  From the assumed high ground of moral rectitude and legal certainty, the European Union has sought to influence other countries around the world and European Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers have promoted the European ideals of democracy and justice.

  Yet, what happens when a country within the European Union discards the Rule of Law and Western democratic principles? What happen when a government within the European Union betrays the founding principles of a democratic society?

  The government of the Netherlands has increasingly discarded the principles that define and identify what it means to be a Western democracy, or indeed a member of the European Union. In recent years, government ministers from the Netherlands have found themselves repeatedly defending their policies and actions in the international media. When challenged by the media they have provided no answers, only shabby excuses, and in this, they act like the henchmen of a third world dictatorship hiding from the glare of the press.

  Dutch ministers act superciliously when confronted by government ministers and parliamentarians from other European Union countries; they refuse to answer letters or to respond in any meaningful way to the serious and valid concerns of their European Union partners. Dutch ministers now act like their counterparts in North Korea, Zimbabwe and the other black spots of world tyranny.

  Until the European Union puts its own house in order, it should suspend the hypocritical rhetoric and entreaties to other countries. With the breakdown of the Rule of Law in the Netherlands, the European Union is in no position to preach to others.

  What will it take? Is the European Union waiting for the spread of this cancerous growth of fascism in the Netherlands to forever taint and despoil the reputation and standing of the European Union in the world?

  Will the European Parliament act? Will the body politic of the European Union try to cure itself of the disease that is spreading from within? Will this infection spread to the rest of the European Union and contaminate all its citizens?

  As a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs you are one of the prime defenders of status of the European Union around the world, will you not try to ensure that the standing of both European Union, and indeed each member state, is preserved?