‘Adolf Hitler Must Be Proud!’
26,000 political refugees in Holland threatened with deportation

Ordinary Dutch citizens oppose the new law from a humanitarian point of view: “Some kids are already going for five and more years to school, speak better Dutch than other legal immigrants, parents are working and paying taxes,” says one concerned Dutch citizen on a web bulletin. “That is pure deportation! Adolf [Hitler of Nazi Germany] must be proud!”

By D. L. Mondelo
Chief political correspondent for Europe, Bulatlat.Com

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands -- A new asylum law passed last Feb. 16 by the Dutch Parliament threatens to forcibly deport some 26,000 foreign refugees over the next three years. The new asylum law, introduced by Dutch Minister of Alien Affairs and Integration Rita Verdonk of the right-wing Christian Democratic Party (CDA), will cover all those who applied for political asylum in the Netherlands before April 1, 2001.

The new law targets asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected and are already out of the judicial procedure; many have spent considerable time in this country. Also, under the new law, appeals would not be accepted any longer.

Human rights organizations, the Dutch churches, local politicians and ordinary Dutch citizens have bitterly opposed the new legislation, however. Some 3,000 asylum seekers, human rights activists and refugee advocates demonstrated in front of the Dutch Parliament in Den Haag (The Hague), Feb. 9, to manifest their bitterness and despair over the bill.

An opinion poll conducted by a Dutch research institute revealed that more than 60 percent of the Dutch public is opposed to the new asylum law and support greater amnesty for asylum seekers in the Netherlands.

Even the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has strongly criticized the new Dutch law saying it violates fundamental rights, and asked the Dutch government to “bring asylum policy back in line with international standards.”

In a Feb. 13 letter to Minister Verdonk dated, the HRW, through its acting Executive Director for Europe and Central Asia Rachel Denber reminded the Dutch government to conform with the Netherlands’ international legal obligations.

“The proposals will put failed asylum seekers at risk, both in the Netherlands – in the form of evictions, ending of social assistance, and detention, among other things – and potentially upon return... No matter how the Dutch authorities characterize the proposed deportations, they give rise to serious concerns that they do not conform with the Netherlands’ international obligations…,” said Denber.

Humanitarian reasons

Ordinary Dutch citizens oppose the new law from a humanitarian point of view: “Some kids are already going for five and more years to school, speak better Dutch than other legal immigrants, parents are working and paying taxes,” says one concerned Dutch citizen on a web bulletin. “That is pure deportation! Adolf [Hitler of Nazi Germany] must be proud!”

Mayors and other local politicians are also against the new law, fearing that it would only push those who would be affected to become “illegals” and hide from public view.

Asked to comment on the new Dutch asylum law and its implications on the asylum case of prominent Filipino political exile Prof. Jose Maria Sison, an officer of the Committee DEFEND, which has been strongly campaigning to remove Sison from the European Union “terrorist” list, said the new Dutch law would violate the rights of refugees and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

Professor Sison asked for political asylum in the Netherlands in October 1988 while on a speaking tour, after the government of former President Corazon Aquino cancelled his passport in September of the same year.

The Committee DEFEND officer said he did not yet see any direct adverse consequence of the new asylum law on the case of Sison. The Dutch Council of State and the Ministry of Justice have recognized Sison as a political refugee, he said. As such, he cannot be sent back to his country.

The officer also said Sison is protected by Article 3 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and therefore cannot be deported.

U.S. pressure

The officer further said, however, that as a result of pressure from the United States, especially after Sison’s inclusion in the so-called list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs), the Dutch Finance Ministry has instructed the social welfare and refugee assistance agencies to end the housing, food, medical and other basic subsidies to Professor Sison.

Sison’s case and those of other Filipino asylum seekers who have sought refuge in the Netherlands are probably exceptions to the legal definitions of the Dutch asylum policies. Their cases have apparently been treated from the start by the Dutch government from a political point of view rather than from a juridical viewpoint required by the Refugee Convention.

While very careful against offending Washington by not granting Sison a residence permit and by putting up legal ambiguities on his case (Sison is a recognized political refugee but has not been legally admitted to the Netherlands), the Dutch government has granted full refugee status to other less known Filipino political asylum seekers identified with the legal or underground left in the Philippines.

By doing so, the Dutch government is also making a statement to the Philippine government that its worsening human rights record is enough basis for the Dutch policy on asylum to become flexible when it comes to other Filipino political asylum seekers. Bulatlat.com

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