Amnesty International Report 2014/15 - Netherlands
| Publisher | Amnesty International |
| Publication Date | 25 February 2015 |
| Cite as | Amnesty International, Amnesty International Report 2014/15 - Netherlands, 25 February 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/54f07dbaa.html [accessed 25 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Kingdom of the Netherlands
Head of state: King Willem-Alexander
Head of government: Mark Rutte
Irregular migrants continued to face long periods of immigration detention under excessively strict conditions. Concerns were raised around ethnic profiling by law enforcement agencies.
Refugees' and migrants' rights
Immigration detention
Although the number of people placed in immigration detention was declining, migrants without regular legal status continued to face disproportionately long periods of detention under excessively strict conditions. In December 2013 the Minister for Security and Justice made legislative proposals to reform immigration detention. However, in February 2014, Amnesty International and 10 other civil society organizations raised numerous concerns about the draft legislation. In October, the government opened a child-friendly closed location for families with children whose detention it deemed unavoidable, instead of holding them in a prison-like facility.
Refoulement
In June, the Council of State rejected requests for asylum from three men from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The men had given testimony to the International Criminal Court in proceedings against a Congolese former militia leader accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The men, who themselves face allegations of having committed gross human rights abuses, were returned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in July, despite the risk of torture and the death penalty that they would face there.[1]
The Netherlands continued to deport rejected asylum-seekers to Somalia, against guidelines issued by UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. In one case from November 2013, Ahmed Said was deported from the Netherlands to Mogadishu and injured three days later in a suicide bombing.
Economic, social and cultural rights
In October 2013, the European Committee of Social Rights recommended that the Netherlands introduce measures to meet the needs of persons at immediate risk of destitution in response to a complaint brought by the Conference of European Churches about the situation of migrants without regular legal status. No steps were taken to implement the decision in 2014.
There were ongoing reports during the year of migrants without regular status setting up makeshift accommodation and facing threats of eviction. In June, a pilot project in Amsterdam to accommodate rejected asylum-seekers was closed.
Discrimination – ethnic profiling
NGOs and intergovernmental bodies continued to raise concerns about ethnic profiling by law enforcement agencies, in particular around the lack of clear guidelines to avoid racial profiling, and on data gathering in stop-and-search operations. In response to criticism by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance and Amnesty International, among others, the Dutch government and the Dutch police both explicitly rejected ethnic profiling as discriminatory.
International justice
On 6 September 2013 the Netherlands Supreme Court found the Dutch state liable for the deaths of three men during the Srebrenica genocide. [2] Dutch troops serving as UN peacekeepers in Srebrenica sent three Bosniak Muslim men, part of a larger group of over 300 men, away from a "safe area" on 13 July 1995, effectively handing them over to Bosnian Serb forces, who killed the majority of those handed over. In July, the Hague District Court ruled that the Dutch state was liable for the loss suffered by the families of the more than 300 men and boys mentioned above, but not for the acts of the Dutch troops prior to the fall of Srebrenica, or the failure of those troops to hold the "safe area".
Unlawful killings
In November, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Netherlands' investigation into the fatal shooting by army personnel of an Iraqi civilian in June 2004 in Iraq violated his right to life and awarded the victim's father compensation of €25,000.
1. Netherlands: Do not return ICC witnesses at risk of death penalty, ill-treatment and unfair trials to the Democratic Republic of Congo (EUR 35/001/2014) www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR35/001/2014/en
2. Netherlands Supreme Court hands down historic judgment over Srebrenica genocide (PRE 01/449/2013) www.amnesty.org/en/news/netherlands-supreme-court-hands-down-historic-judgment-over-srebrenica-genocide-2013-09-06
