Nieuws van de afdeling

17 July 2008

SP urges foreign minister to tackle broader problem of Dutch prisoners in foreign jails as agreement is signed with Peru

SP Member of Parliament Krista van Velzen says that she is “extremely pleased” that Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen has reached an “agreement in principle” on the issue of Dutch prisoners in Peruvian jails. The agreement means that it is probable that they will soon be able to return to the Netherlands to serve their sentences. Van Velzen, who was recently in Peru to see the situation for herself and to speak to the prisoners, also expressed the hope that the Minister will treat reaching similar agreements with other countries as a matter of urgency. “Dutch citizens convicted of offences abroad should not be left to rot,” she said. “From a humanitarian point of view, because conditions are in many cases truly awful, but also from the point of view of their reintegration into society after they have served their sentences.”

15 July 2008

Defence Ministry must not ignore American criticism of nuclear weapons base security

SP Member of Parliament Krista van Velzen describes herself as “astonished” by the lax attitude of Defence Minister Eimert van Middelkoop when it comes to the security arrangements for American nuclear weapons housed on the Dutch Royal Air Force force base at Volkel. “Investigators from the USAF have been visiting the various European air force bases where American nuclear weapons are housed,” said Van Velzen, SP spokeswoman on defence and disarmament issues. “Their conclusion was that not a single base came up to scratch on security measures. Van Middelkoop is acting just as if there's no problem at all. This seems to me, in the case of nuclear weapons and security, exactly the reaction we don't want to see. He should be going to the Americans and asking to be filled in on all the details.”

14 July 2008

Employment bureaux are stealing Polish workers' health insurance payments

Several hundred Polish workers employed in the Netherlands have complained to the national tax authorities that employment bureaux are deducting health insurance payments without their permission - and then, in reality, providing no health cover. Secretary of State for Finance Jan Kees De Jager confirmed this in reaction to questions from SP Member of Parliament Paul Lempens. “In plain language this is known as theft, and it must be immediately stopped, ” says Lempens. “The Secretary of State has, at the SP's request, announced that an enquiry will take place and that there will also be an information campaign aimed at the Polish workers.”

12 July 2008

Ewout Irrgang, SP Development Spokesman, Visits Sudan

SP member of Parliament Ewout Irrgang was part of a working group of members of the Dutch Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs which visited Sudan from 5th to 12th July in order to see for themselves the political situation in the troubled country. He kept a diary of his visit, from which these excerpts are translated.

10 July 2008

Trucks with foreign licence plates cannot be excluded from environmental zones

In an increasing number of Dutch towns environmental zones are being established, areas from which vehicles with unacceptably polluting exhaust emissions are excluded. The enforcement of these measures to improve air quality is coming up against the problem of vehicles registered abroad, however. These vehicles cannot be included in any ban because of the lack of any international agreement on the exchange of specifications when cars, vans and trucks are registered. Environmental goals are losing out to judicial reasoning.

10 July 2008

EU: recognise genocide of Kurds

The Anfal Campaign conducted by the Iraqi government at the end of the 1980s should be considered a case of genocide. With this appeal, the regional government of Kurdistan in northern Iraq is seeking international recognition of this crime against humanity. Will the European Commission react?

International