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24 April 2007

SP calls for enquiry into reported torture of extradited Afghans

The SP is demanding that the International Red Cross be given access to Afghan prisoners, who, having been handed over to the country's authorities by soldiers of the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), may have been tortured. According to investigative journalists from the Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail, many extradited prisoners are exposed to serious acts of torture. Canadian personnel work closely with Dutch troops in the ISAF.

23 April 2007

Enquiry into consequences for Mauritania of Dutch-owned shellfish operation promised

At the urging of SP Member of Parliament Hugo Polderman, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Gerda Verburg will order an enquiry into the effects on Mauritania's coast of mechanical shellfish removal. This manner of harvesting shellfish was ended in 2004 in the Netherlands' own coastal seas in the Wadden region due to the massive environmental damage it caused. The Dutch fisheries corporations involved appear, however, to have simply relocated their activities to the West African coast. “Destruction of nature should not be moved elsewhere,” says Polderman, “but ended.”

20 April 2007

Council of Europe draws up balance sheet of human rights and democracy

In an extended series of debates the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has this week drawn up a balance sheet of human rights and democracy in Europe. Conclusion: it's time to replace words with deeds and improve matters on all fronts. If this is not done, then European countries will stand rightly accused of hypocrisy. A proposal from SP Senator Tiny Kox, that the debates be seen as a beginning and should now be pursued on the national level, won broad support.

20 April 2007

SP Senator tells Council of Europe: ‘No double standards for Palestinians and Israelis’

Yesterday in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), SP Senator Anja Meulenbelt took the floor on behalf of the Unified European Left (UEL) in an emergency debate on the situation in the Middle East. Representatives of both the Israeli Knesset and the Palestinian executive were in attendance. “Whenever it is demanded of the Palestinians that they renounce violence, recognise the State of Israel, and keep to treaty agreements, then these same demands should be made of Israel,” Meulenbelt declared.

20 April 2007

Open borders for workers from new EU member states threatens an explosion of abuses

“Why is the Employment Minister in such a hurry to complete the opening of our borders?” asked SP Member of Parliament and spokesman on employment and social affairs Paul Ulenbelt during today's debate on the free movement of workers. “The entire cabinet has spent its first hundred days in listening mode, but this minister is not listening to the trade unions, to the four biggest local authorities, to people living in horticultural areas who are seeing enclaves or ghettoes of foreign workers springing up around them.”

19 April 2007

Minister promises to act on findings in SP report on export of waste

Member of Parliament Remi Poppe and Euro-MP Kartika Liotard this afternoon presented the SP's report ‘Afval heeft toekomst’ ('Waste has a future' ) to Environment Minister Jacqueline Cramer. The report's main conclusion is that waste which has been carefully separated in the Netherlands for recycling or appropriate disposal is often simply dumped over the country's borders.

International