International

In the past decades, hundreds of thousands of people in the military have had to work with hazardous substances without protection. As a result, many of them are currently seriously ill or deceased. 'Chromium-6' is a well-known example, but the military works with 5000 hazardous substances, of which no fewer than 500 are carcinogenic. For years, employees and their relatives have been engaged in a political and legal battle against the government: for recognition and fair treatment, yet they have been opposed at every turn. The RIVM, on monday, released a report on working with toxic substances, which shows that many more people have been exposed to the substances. At the same time the cabinet announced what the compensation scheme for victims should look like.

The Dutch fire department is under great pressure. The fire department increasingly has to turn out with fewer people or with less equipment. European plans to limit volunteerism in the fire service are now also threatening a large exodus among volunteers. As far as the SP is concerned, we will not let that happen. 

Last week the European Parliament approved a resolution to tackle the AIDS epidemic which includes a Left demand for waiving intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines. This makes production and distribution of these badly needed medicines cheaper and easier. 

There is a structural cause that causes the violence in the region to flare up regularly. It is rooted in the occupation policy that Israel has been pursuing for decades.

On Monday April 26th the ‘Kobani-trial’ started against 108 members of the HDP, a party representing approximately 10% of the electorate in Turkey. Amongst the politicians on trial are the former co-chairs of the HDP, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, who have been incarcerated for years by the Turkish authorities based on a false claim of being involved in terrorist actions. The Kobani-trial is a political trial in which HDP-politicians face absurdly high prison sentences, with the purpose to squash the Kurdish and leftist opposition. For that reason the trial receives harsh criticism throughout the world. 

In a statement the SP expresses its solidarity with the staff and readers of progressive Indian news site News Click, who’ve felt victim to increased intimidation by the far-right Indian Government. 

Parents need to get a better chance to share the care for their new-born child more equally. That is why the SP successfully proposed extending the partner leave. The parliament now agrees with the SP that the partner leave should be extended to twelve weeks.

On the initiative of the SP, a parliamentary inquiry will be held on anti-fraud campaigns by government services. The SP, fronted by Renske Leijten, wished the parliament would employ the heaviest means available. SP-leader Lilian Marijnissen: ‘It took almost two years, but perseverance pays off. Now we can really break open the cesspool of the benefits affair. The parents deserve justice, and the Netherlands deserves a fair government.’

A proposal by the SP and D66 to increase pressure on pharmaceutical companies to share their knowledge and rights for the production of coronavirus vaccines has been adopted in parliament. With this, the government is instructed to put words into action considering the Netherlands’ support of the knowledge pool of the WHO.