International

A clear majority of the Senate today voted to support a motion calling on the government to impose a ban on direct investment in cluster munitions. Only the right wing VVD and the centrist D66 voted against. Such a ban would bring the government’s policies into line with the international treaty on cluster munitions ratified by the Senate in February. Describing himself as ‘delighted with this motion’, SP Senator Arjan Vliegenthart said: ‘During February’s debate a clear majority in the Senate in favour of an investment ban on cluster munitions was evident. The government then announced that as things stood it favoured a ‘covenant’, under which banks and investors would state on a voluntary basis that they would no longer invest in cluster munitions, but that it wanted to examine its options. With the adoption of this motion the Senate has given a clear signal to the government that it should take action and make investment in these horrible bombs impossible.'

SP Senator Tiny Kox is pleased that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will be visiting the Netherlands in June. President Abbas announced his visit at a meeting in Ramallah at the end of Senator Kox’s working visit to Palestine last week. Kox was there to look into the possibilities for closer cooperation following the Palestine National Council’s request to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in which forty-seven European countries are represented. Abbas said that the Palestinian request would be honoured, noting that ‘European support is now more than ever important to us.’