International

SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel won the support of his fellow MPs when they voted in favour of a resolution calling on the Minister of Foreign Affairs to demand the release of prisoners of conscience in Azerbaijan. ‘In the runup to the European Games which began recently in the country, critics of the government have been dealt with extremely harshly,’ says Van Bommel. ‘Dozens of them have been arrested and locked up to prevent them from expressing their opinions. It’s completely unacceptable that there are prisoners of conscience in Azerbaijan ao I’m pleased that Parliament has supported my call for their release. It’s important that we show solidarity with the victims of this repression.’

On 17th June SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong, together with corruption watchdog Transparency International, hosted a meeting in the European Parliament with – and about – whistle-blowers. Protecting whistle-blowers deserves at this time to be given a great deal of attention, given that the European Parliament yesterday voted in favour of an EU Directive on protection of company secrets. The measure in question will make it that much harder to make abuses within corporations public.