Nieuws van de afdeling

4 October 2011

Parliament supports SP: pharmaceutical industry research must be made public

Parliament today voted in favour of a proposal from SP Member of Parliament Henk van Gerven all of the results of research into the effects of medicines on human beings must be made public. ‘Thanks to this proposal firms will no longer be able to sweep negative results under the carpet,’ says Van Gerven. ‘Scientific research will in this way be improved and made safer.’

3 October 2011

Then and now: Exploitation of workers from Central and Eastern Europe

It’s April 2007. ‘Unrestricted access of workers from Central and Eastern European countries is leading to an explosion of abuses,’ says SP Member of Parliament Paul Ulenbelt. ‘This is because employers’ responsibility to provide decent housing for foreign workers and monitoring of such housing is not being properly regulated, while measures to guarantee equal pay for equal work are absent.’

30 September 2011

Van Bommel: 'EU treaty with Indonesia much too soon’

For SP foreign affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel, the new agreement between the EU and Indonesia has come far too soon. The European Union has signed the accord in an attempt to draw the two sides closer together. “The bond between the Netherlands and Indonesia is, it’s true, already age-old, but is also extremely sensitive,” says Van Bommel. “As long as there is corruption in Indonesia and human rights abuses continue there, it makes no sense for the EU to reward that country with a favourable agreement. This accord is aimed principally at putting the EU on the map in Asia.”

30 September 2011

Uncrewed planes don't help: only diplomacy can save the Somalis

The Dutch government must commit itself to a diplomatic offensive for Somalia. By doing so, they would not only be working toward a solution to the acute humanitarian crisis in the country, but possibly even toward a political solution in the longer term, argues Ewout Irrgang.

29 September 2011

Urban decline and exploitation of workers results of unrestricted labour migration from Eastern Europe

‘Exploitation of employees and problems in certain neighbourhoods could have been prevented if successive governments had kept a closer eye on migration of workers from Eastern Europe. The Netherlands clearly does not have its own house in order sufficiently to be able to receive so many guests.’ So says SP Member of Parliament Sadet Karabulut in reaction to the report from the temporary parliamentary commission which, on an initiative from the SP, has looked into the consequences of recent labour migration into the Netherlands from Central and Eastern Europe.

29 September 2011

'Halt talks on a Netherlands-Israel cooperation council’

Harry van Bommel has asked Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal to put pressure on Israel to reverse its government’s decision to give its permission for the construction of 1,100 dwellings in the Jewish settlement of Gilo on the occupied West Bank. Van Bommel: 'Israel’s decision demonstrates that the Netanyahu government isn’t interested in ending the occupation of the West Bank. We’ve heard talk of negotiations before. This sort of behaviour shouldn’t be rewarded, so the Netherlands must halt discussion of a new Netherlands-Israel cooperation council.

International