COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS CONSIDERS REPORT OF THE NETHERLANDS

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has considered the third periodic report of the Netherlands on how that country is implementing the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Piet de Klerk, Ambassador at Large for Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, addressing the Committee, said the Netherlands was deeply committed to the object and purpose of the Covenant: it believed in the indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights. Civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights reinforced each other. In the Government’s opinion, all the obligations under the Covenant had been adequately incorporated into national legislation. In the reporting period and in the period prior, many laws, regulations and policy measures were adopted that strengthened the rights formulated in the Covenant.

In questions to the delegation, Experts raised various issues, including what was the practice of the courts, in particular the Superior Court, for determining the applicability of the Covenant, and whether economic, social and cultural rights were given equal importance with civil and political rights in this context; the implementation of the human rights approach in the Netherlands’s development cooperation policy and what qualitative changes had been made in this regard since the adoption of this approach; the issue of domestic violence and whether a specific Action Plan had been implemented and what impact it had had on the phenomenon; and the right to education from the perspective of young people, including the right to be educated under safe conditions, and what was being done to keep control of the situation in the context of this right to safety.

In concluding remarks, Mr. de Klerk said it was the view of the delegation that quite a few fundamental issues had been raised. The first of these was the nature of the rights in the Covenant and their political applicability. Many Experts had posed questions on sexual issues, including the age of consent, homosexual marriage and other related issues. The views of the Netherlands, established after debate at many levels, were not yet widely shared internationally, but these were rights which it would continue to defend, as they were based on non-discriminatory grounds. The Netherlands would remain active in the area of domestic violence, both domestically and internationally.



The Committee Chairperson, Virgina Bonoan-Dandan, in her concluding remarks said the Committee thanked the openness and receptivity in which the Netherlands had received the questions. The discussion showed how wide and how profound economic, social and cultural rights could be, and it was the experience of the Committee that in developing and poor countries there were problems of a particular nature, and another level was touched upon in developed countries. The suggestions of the Committee were not criticisms, they were meant to help the State party to improve the situation.

The delegation from the Netherlands included representatives of the Permanent Mission of the Netherlands to the United Nations Office in Geneva, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. The delegation met with the Committee for three meetings over two days to present and discuss the report. The Committee will issue its final observations and recommendations on the report of the Netherlands at the end of the session, which concludes on 24 November.

The next meeting of the Committee will be at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, 8 November, when it will take up the second periodic report of El Salvador (E/1990/6/Add.39).

Report of the Netherlands

The third periodic report of the Netherlands (E/1994/104/Add.30) says that in order to achieve the European objectives and the Government’s targets, efforts to step up labour market policies for ethnic minorities, as announced and initiated in 2000, will continue unabated. Any improvement in the socio-economic position will also bring about social changes that are a priority for both society and politicians. It has been proven that socio-economic prosperity leads to less crime among ethnic minorities, which tends to promote a climate of safety. The Dutch Government endorses the importance of increased labour force participation among older people and since the second report has introduced measures to promote access of this group to the labour market. During the 1990s the participation rate among older people increased.

The Dutch Government is seeking a more effective approach to domestic violence. Violence has a huge influence on how safe society is and how safe people actually feel. This applies as much to violence in public as to violence in the home. Although domestic violence usually takes place behind closed doors and the victims seldom report it to the police, various studies conducted in the Netherlands and elsewhere suggest that domestic violence occurs on a large scale, more so than any other type of violence. Combating domestic violence has become a key objective of the policy of organizations like the police, the Public Prosecution Service, women’s support organizations and a growing number of municipalities. As a result of the agreements entered into at the World Congress against commercial exploitation of children, which was held in Stockholm in 1996, a policy document and an action plan have been developed to combat sexual violence against children.

The main objective of the overall development cooperation policy of the Netherlands is to combat absolute poverty. The realisation of the political, economic, social and cultural rights of people is part and parcel of this policy. For some considerable time now the Dutch Civil Code has stipulated that employers are not allowed to discriminate between men and women in the area of terms and conditions of employment. The Equal Opportunities Act contains more detailed provisions. All workers can invoke this legislation in dealings with their employers. Men and women must receive equal pay for work of equal value. The Dutch Government is very keen to increase the number of working women and to ensure women take up more senior positions. The Dutch Government encourages and facilitates affirmative action in various ways. All residents and employed persons in the Netherlands are insured under the Dutch social security system. No distinction is made on the grounds of nationality, race or sex.

Introduction of Report

PIET DE KLERK, Ambassador at Large for Human Rights at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, said the Netherlands was deeply committed to the object and purpose of the Covenant: it believed in the indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights. Civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights reinforced each other. The Netherlands also believed that the economic, social and cultural rights of the individual did not have a different status than his or her civil and political rights: there was no hierarchy. In the Government’s opinion, all the obligations under the Covenant had been adequately incorporated into national legislation. In the reporting period and in the period prior, many laws, regulations and policy measures were adopted that strengthened the rights formulated in the Covenant. Individuals who believed their rights under the Covenant were being infringed by Dutch law had redress to the courts, where they could invoke the relevant provisions of the Covenant, provided their contents were directly applicable.

Both types of human rights were also important pillars of Dutch development cooperation policy. Work was of crucial importance to most people - for their self-esteem, and to give them the opportunity to develop. Work enabled people to take part in society, and to make a valuable contribution to its economic and social life. People should have every opportunity to work, and no one should be discriminated against. Everyone should have access to the labour market, on the basis of equality and equal opportunities. Youth unemployment was an important item in Government policy, as for women and ethnic minorities. For the latter group, discrimination had been regarded as the main cause of high levels of unemployment, but it turned out that important reasons were also age distribution (relatively older persons), and low levels of education, and the Government had launched various activities to improve ethnic minorities’ prospects of work, and these had proved successful.

The Netherlands attached great importance to a smoothly functioning social security system as a safety net for people who, for various reasons, were unable to generate their own income; and, to safeguard this system for the future, a number of reforms had been introduced. Efforts had also been made to put an end to early retirement. Education was of fundamental importance, and legislation enabled children to undergo a continual process of development. Life expectancy continued to rise, and in the past three years, the Government had created the conditions for a better healthcare system, which aimed to be prepared for the demographic and social trends that would unfold in the years to come. To strike the right balance between preventing and treating disease, the Government was devoting extra attention to prevention.

Questions Raised by Experts

Addressing the first cluster of questions, on the general situation and the legal and institutional framework under which the Covenant was implemented, Experts asked a series of questions on various issues, including what was the place of the Covenant in the internal judicial order; what was the practice of the courts, in particular the Superior Court, for determining the applicability of the Covenant, and whether economic, social and cultural rights were given equal importance with civil and political rights in this context; the implementation of the human rights approach in the Netherlands’s development cooperation policy and what qualitative changes had been made in this regard since the adoption of this approach; issues related to the increase of legislative measures to improve and protect women’s involvement in employment and whether these had changed the participation of women in the labour market, in particular with regards to the provision of child care; how ethnic minorities were treated and whether there was a specific action plan for each group as they had different needs; whether there were any punitive measures to punish discrimination in the cases of employment; a request for more information on Dutch cooperation for development in the future that promoted economic cooperation on economic, social and cultural rights; a request for further detail on the challenges and problems that the Netherlands was facing under the Covenant; and issues related to the implementation of the Covenant in the overseas territories of the Netherlands.

Response by Delegation

PIET DE KLERK, Ambassador at Large for Human Rights at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, responding, said that it was not the Netherlands’ intention to paint a rosy picture, and there were a number of factors in the period behind that had facilitated implementation of the Covenant, but the Netherlands would be the first to admit that there were a number of challenges in the implementation of the Covenant. One of these was the challenge to ensure large groups of ethnic minorities found places in the labour market and in employment. It was a challenge to bring the unemployment levels of these groups down. Discrimination played a role in this, and the Government fought this whenever it realised its presence. There were however, other factors, including age distribution. The Government had taken a range of practical measures, but the factors were difficult to combat, and therefore the figures had not decreased drastically. Another challenge was that of integrating large groups of foreigners that had become Dutch to a large extent.

Over the last five years, Mr. de Klerk said, more emphasis had been placed on integration in policies, and a certain distance had been taken from the multi-cultural model. To some extent, tailor-made measures for various groups were being considered from this perspective, but there were groups from different backgrounds and different religions, and this remained a challenge in different ways. Experts were quite right that over the years, the Netherlands’s position with regards to an Optional Protocol to the Covenant with an individual complaints mechanism had been cautious. The Netherlands supported the expansion of the Working Group to work on such a draft Protocol, but remained cautious, as the adequate implementation of the rights under the Covenant was essentially political, in the view of the Government. The Netherlands wished to be involved in further discussion of individual complaint rights, but as a rule, generally speaking, when the Netherlands had ratified the Covenant, it had stated that it considered these rights to be not of general applicability, with certain exceptions, and this position was not currently changing.

On the rights of migrants, the Netherlands did not feel comfortable with the central term of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, as migrants had the same rights in the Netherlands as did any other inhabitant of the country. There were legal inhabitants and illegal inhabitants, but this was a different categorisation, and this was why the Netherlands was not currently planning to accede to treaty. At present, the Netherlands had development links with 36 countries. These countries were all below the Development Assistance Committee level, but there were other reasons for their selection, including historical, and the question as to whether the Netherlands could make a difference. Much of the development cooperation efforts took place in fields that were at the heart of the Covenant, Mr. de Klerk said, such as the areas of health and education. There was a decentralised approach to this development cooperation, with embassies playing a large role, and discussions had been held with the embassies on focusing the efforts through the context of the Covenant.

The report was not complete, Mr. de Klerk said, it only covered the European part of the Kingdom, and not the Caribbean parts. Legally, these were one country, but for practical reasons, and in consultation with the Committee, the Netherlands had proposed to split the submission, and to hold separate debates on the different parts. The Netherlands guaranteed to all its citizens the rights under the Covenant, and the implementation of these was the responsibility of the different elements.

Responding to other questions, the delegation said that it was up to the courts to determine whether a particular provision of the Covenant was to be regarded as committing the State to a particular policy which would enhance the provision and enjoyment of certain rights by citizens. When the Covenant was ratified, the Government had said that various provisions would not be considered directly applicable to individuals, and the Supreme Court had referred to this in certain decisions. Various judgements existed in which the domestic courts had looked at the substance of various provisions, and had, in some cases, ruled that, generally speaking, an individual could not invoke these in order to claim from the domestic courts. It was very difficult to make general conclusions with regards to case law, as the Covenant was not frequently invoked.

With regards to why so many women worked part time and how this related to participation levels, the delegation said participation was measured from a minimum of 12 hours work a week. Participation of women from September 2006 was of 55.8 per cent. In the Netherlands, historically, women looked after children, and men worked. Shifting this cultural attitude took a lot of effort. Today, women working was more normal, but there were still a large number of women who wished to care for their own children for a certain number of days a week. Child care facilities were therefore more available since the beginning of the year, and these currently responded to demand. The Government facilitated part time work for both men and women. The European Union was also very active in promoting equal opportunities for men and women, and stimulated employers to identify reasons for which they had fewer women employees, and to respond to these by, for example, providing flexible working hours. The Equal Treatment Commission investigated complaints of unequal treatment made by both women and by ethnic minorities.

For different groups of ethnic minorities, the Netherlands had created educational possibilities in order to learn Dutch, the delegation said. There were special assistance programmes in order to improve the way ethnic minorities went through school. At present, the main cause for unemployment among the young was that they had left school with no diploma, and work was being done to ensure that this was remedied, with, where necessary, programmes combining employment and learning. Employers were sometimes reluctant to hire people from ethnic minorities - the Government therefore subsidised their employment, and facilitated education and language knowledge for the employee, and facilitated courses for the employer.

Efforts on development cooperation, Mr. de Klerk said, were also geared towards implementing the intentions and schemes of the development partners themselves. Efforts also put a lot of emphasis on fighting corruption and on good governance. Civil society in all respects was very active in the Netherlands, and there was regular contact between non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the Government on human rights in the policy area. This also applied to development efforts, and a significant amount of funding was channelled through NGOs in the field. There were specific measures in the criminal prosecution of discrimination, the delegation said. There had been various emendations of the Aliens Act for the admittance of certain categories of aliens, which ensured that those wishing to integrate should learn Dutch, in order to participate actively in Dutch society.

Further Questions by Committee Experts

In follow-up questions, Committee Experts, among other things, commented on conflicting information regarding whether discrimination issues, gender equality, rights to food, health and housing were political rights; what was the language used in the decision-making process in courts and tribunals; requested more clarification on the rights of migrant workers and what type of protection was provided for them; and asked what was the legal status of inhabitants who did not have Dutch nationality.

Taking up articles 6 to 9 of the Covenant, Experts asked questions on, among other things, the need for more clarification on the social security agenda and the self-activating system; whether employment to which job-seekers were directed were sustainable forms of work; whether the decrease in seekers for social assistance was due to the difficulty of application; issues related to the access of self-employed women to maternity benefits; the situation of illegal immigrants and whether they could claim benefits; issues of unemployment which did not affect equally all socio-economic categories; how discrimination was proved during employment and during the recruitment process; how collective bargaining played a role and how it worked; and what was the situation with regards to strike rights and the rights of internally-displaced persons in the context of overseas territories of the Netherlands.

Response by Delegation

Responding to these questions and others, including the follow-up questions from the first segment, Mr. de Klerk said there was maybe some confusion with regards to the use of the term “political” when referring to economic, social and cultural rights. Many questions were being debated in the Netherlands which touched upon the rights in the Covenant, such as whether the educational and health systems were good enough. These were questions on the implementation of the rights enshrined in the Covenant, and this was why the term “political” had been used with regards to the implementation of the economic, social and cultural rights. Non-Dutch nationals living in the Netherlands, legally, had the same rights under the Covenant; it was only a category of persons who had applied for asylum and had gone through the whole procedure, resulting in rejection, who did not have the same rights as those legally residing in the country. However, they did have some rights, including necessary medical care, their children were entitled to be in schools, and they had the right to legal assistance. These were rudimentary rights, however, and these persons did not have the full set of rights to which legal inhabitants were entitled.

Discrimination, the delegation said, was prohibited on several grounds, including gender, and this was stipulated in several legislative Acts, including the Equal Treatment Act. The victim of discrimination did not bear the burden of proof in equal treatment legislation - they just had to show a suspicion or indication of discrimination, and the accused had to show that there was no discrimination. All public servants had the right to strike, but there was a reservation in this regard for military personnel. The Government was deeply concerned by those people who were outside the help of society, and believed that decent work was the best methods of providing aid to those persons. The level of unemployment and disability benefits had been raised. The level of social assistance from local authorities and the conditions under which a citizen could apply for social assistance were set by the Government. For social benefits, people were obliged to make efforts to find a job and to extricate themselves from the negative situation.

The provision of child care was part of social arrangements known as “day arrangements”, ensuring that children could be looked after over the entire day, making it easier for parents to work throughout the day, whilst their children were offered an acceptable and positive environment. There were fiscal facilities to work from home, the delegation said, and men were encouraged to work part-time. The labour supply was expected to decrease because of the aging population, mainly after 2011. The minimum wage was binding for every employer, and there was a labour inspectorate which ensured that this was the case. In the Netherlands, the law on collective labour agreements included that they could never offer less favourable conditions than those stipulated in formal laws. The discussion on anonymous application for jobs had recently reached the Netherlands. The issue of internally-displaced persons had not yet arisen in the country.

Questions by Committee Experts

In follow-up questions on these issues, an Expert asked a question on the minimum wage figure, and the delegation responded that there was a youth minimum wage for those under 21 years of age.

Taking up articles 10-12 of the Covenant, Experts addressed, among other things, secondary and tertiary healthcare for illegal immigrants; how healthy lifestyles were promoted and encouraged in disadvantaged areas including rural areas; cuts in allowances for contraceptives for women above 21 and that this raised aspects of gender discrimination and the result of this on public health; the issue of domestic violence and whether a specific Action Plan had been implemented and what impact it had had on the phenomenon; long-term care and support measures for families looking after elderly relatives and what existing facilities existed; whether priority groups had been targeted in fighting exclusion; issues linked to same-sex marriages, the age of consent and prostitution; an expression of appreciation for the efforts being made with regards to single-parent households; and that the gender issue should be included in public policy at all levels, and not just be raised as a segmentary issue, as it was a very broad issue.

On articles 13 to 15 of the Covenant, questions were raised on issues such as the right to education from the perspective of young people, including the right to be educated under safe conditions, and what was being done to keep control of the situation in the context of this right to safety; a request for more elaboration as to why faith and private schools could limit the number of immigrant students through article 23 of the Constitution; what happened to indigenous culture in the creation of a multicultural society; and efforts made to protect the diversity and specificity of ethnic groups in order to enhance their contribution to society.

Response by Delegation of the Netherlands

Responding, Mr. de Klerk said with regards to persons illegally residing in the Netherlands, when it came to migrant workers, there was hardly ever a case of being illegally in the Netherlands, as because persons had work they had a residence permit. The category of illegals was mainly those who had sought asylum but whose case had been rejected. When a person was living illegally in the Netherlands, quite a number of the basic economic and social rights did not apply. There was a limited set of emergency assistance which applied, as mentioned earlier. The Government did not have any obligation towards those for whom it had rejected asylum, and therefore there were no housing rights for those who remained illegally. In the ‘90s, the majority of those seeking asylum came from conflict areas, and the numbers had increased rapidly. The screening of what was a true case of asylum, due to political persecution, and the distinction from economic migrants, had been improved, and these explained the declining numbers of immigrants.

On integration versus diversity, and the tension between the need to adapt to the new environment and the preservation of previous cultural identities, Mr. de Klerk said that this was a broad issue, and both adaptation and preservation needed to take place. The Netherlands promoted a number of activities to support adaptation and integration. On food exports, the Netherlands was a main exporter of agricultural products, and, as a matter of European policy, there were subsidies for agricultural businesses. On drugs, Dutch policy was liberal in some aspects, but not in others. The emphasis of the policy on alcohol, cigarettes or drugs was prevention, and there were elaborate campaigns in this regard. The main policy objective when it came to anti-drugs campaigns and policies was to maximise harm reduction. The policy was often called liberal, as the Netherlands made a distinction between hard and soft drugs, and when it came to hard drugs, its policies were as strict as in any other country. With regards to the school system in the Netherlands, early in the 20th century there had been a battle in the Netherlands on what type of schools to have. There were today public schools, which were open to any child of any religion. The other schools functioned on the base of religion. Both types of school were equally Government-subsidised. Muslim children could attend a Catholic school, but they had to subscribe to the Catholic basis and outlook of the school, and if they did not, the school could refuse them a place. Public schools did not have this option.

With regards to the health policy in the Netherlands, the delegation said with regards to the Health Insurance Act, relating to illegal immigrants, and whether these were covered for anything other than emergency treatment, this was not the case. On primary psychological care, this was not covered under the Social Security Act, but was covered under another Act. On health and lifestyles, it was true that a lot of the campaigns appeared to be urban, but they all had a national coverage, and this was intended and aimed for. If certain texts did not reflect this adequately, they should be remedied. Medical waiting lists had been a major political problem in the Netherlands, on which the population had expressed itself vocally. These were shorter now, as funds had gone into solving the problem. On cuts on the allowance for contraception under the Health Insurance Act, this had been cut, for economic reasons, as it had been very expensive, but there had been some research on what exactly the effect of this had been, and this had shown that usage of the contraceptive Pill had decreased, and there had been an increase in other contraceptive measures.

Responding to the large number of questions on domestic violence and child abuse, the delegation said the extent of the violence was quite shocking to a number of people when it became publicly known. It was the most extensive form of violence in the Netherlands. Research indicated that more than 40 per cent of the population had experienced domestic violence at some point in their lives. The violence was predominantly committed by men - some 80 per cent of cases. There was a special police registration procedure for domestic violence cases. Only 12 per cent of cases were reported to the police, and this was very low. With regards to child abuse, it was estimated that 100,000 children witnessed domestic violence every year. From 2004 to 2007 the Government had made extra funds available for the extension and improvement of the situation for families at risk. There was also an “Operation: Young” which was aimed at strengthening the chain of youth facilities and supporting these. One of the main problems and priorities of the approach was the recognition of certain problems and the increase of public awareness. The Government was structurally reserving the sum of 40 million euros for health care and foster care in order to ensure that situations were responded to as rapidly as possible.

Regarding whether there were any legal punishments and deterrents, abuse and assault were punishable by law, the delegation said. There was no specific law for domestic violence in particular, however. The law prescribed only maximum penalties. On shelters for women, recently the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports had started a pilot scheme in which specific treatment for the perpetrators of domestic violence was launched. There was a new law proposal that had been presented to Parliament which entailed a temporary prohibition for perpetrators to enter their places of abode when shared with the victim, which latter could therefore remain in their homes, and it was felt this would have a significant effect on the circumstances surrounding these situations. On sex tourism, the code of criminal law had extra-territorial effect, and Dutch nationals were punished under a specific article, with non-Dutch citizens punishable under another. On same-sex marriage, from 1 April 2001, it had been possible for members of the same sex to marry. The rules for entering into, conducting and concluding the marriage were the same as those for a heterosexual married couple, but there were some major differences regarding children and for acceptance abroad. The Netherlands Government did not see marriage as restrictively defined to a man and woman, but viewed that it went beyond that as a minimum.



Questions by Experts

In follow-up questions, Experts asked, among other things, for clarification on whether there was no specific criminal law on domestic violence and to punish this, and whether there was a penal punishment, and why such a law could not be promulgated; whether the holding of pornographic material was a crime when it was by minors; issues related to the age of consent for sexual relationships; whether the State controlled faith schools and whether the State had some form of control over the programmes used in those schools, along with other related issues; and what was the main reason for the high number of early school-leavers.

Response by Delegation

Responding, Mr. de Klerk said with regards to the figures on child abuse and domestic violence, the figures of 1997 were higher than expected, but the figure of 40 per cent referred to “at some point during the victim’s life”. There were comparable figures in other European countries, and the Netherlands was working on follow-up research to see if the 1997 figures had changed. On education, and the different types of schools, and whether this had an impact on social cohesion, this was an ongoing debate which had been fuelled by a relatively quick expansion of a number of Islamic schools, and it was expected the debate would continue. Both types of schools had the same curriculum, and children had to do the same exams.

There were no specific criminal offences dealing solely with domestic violence, the delegation said, although of course violence was a criminal offence and was punished as such. The first issue to address was that the 1997 research used a very broad definition of domestic violence, which covered incidents which would not be prosecuted, such as mental violence including threatening comments. Legislation contained no minimum penalties, as this could lead to unreasonable situations. The fact that there were two different provisions for Dutch nationals and non-Dutch nationals with regards to sex tourism was because it was extraordinary for Dutch criminal law to have extra-territorial effect, but there was no unequal treatment between the two.

Continuing to respond to questions, Mr. de Klerk said with regards to education, the right to education included the right to a safe learning environment, and this was an important point. In the Netherlands, there had been at least one serious incident, in 2004, when a teacher was shot in a school in The Hague. On the basis of that incident and other lesser ones, the Government had drafted an Action Plan on the Safety in Education and support for students who constituted a risk. A report had been presented to the Parliament in 2004. Under the Action Plan, the Government had invested seriously in safety in schools, investing 9 million over each year. This included improvement of expertise for teachers and support staff with regards to safety, the coaching of students, and improved cooperation between schools and other youth institutions. There had been a number of incidents relating to safety, but recent figures showed that around 95 per cent of both students and teachers felt safe in and around the school environment. With regards to languages, Dutch teaching was mandatory in schools. Sometimes lessons could be given in other languages, insofar as they supported learning in Dutch, and this applied only to the lower classes of primary school.

The age of consent was 16, the delegation said, and this was not identical to the age of 18, when a person came of age. However, 18 was not a turning point in Dutch law, and below this age persons already had a form of autonomy, and Dutch law was based on a gradual expansion of this autonomy. Sexual relationships were considered a part of the private life of the individual, and their expansion was accepted. With regards to the possession of pornographic material by a minor, this was not considered a criminal offence, unless of course this featured child pornography. On prostitution and trafficking, the former had never been illegal in the Netherlands - brothels, however, were illegal until 1 October 2000. The de-criminalized nature of the industry allowed the Government to control it more effectively and to counter abuses such as forced prostitution and the abuse of minors. The police conducted frequent controls of brothels, and were thus in a position to pick up signs of trafficking more easily. The Government did not see a link between trafficking and legalised prostitution. Prostitutes had the same rights and protection as other professionals, and the labour laws protected them from violence and coercion. The Government took the issue of trafficking very seriously, and it was one of the main priorities for the police and the prosecution authorities.

With regards to the distribution of racist ideas on the Internet and the measures taken to combat this phenomenon, there was a hotline organization with the object of looking into allegations about discriminatory utterances based, inter alia, on creed, origin, and race, and getting them removed from the Internet. This focussed mainly on the Dutch part of the Internet. There had been an increase in reports, but this was understood to be due to the growing popularity of the Internet, as well as growing awareness of the possibility of reporting such incidents. On domestic violence affecting children, the 1997 report did not differentiate between categories of victims, but the Government would not be surprised if the number was quite high. The Special Rapporteur on violence against children, Paolo Sergio Pinheiro, had reported that between 80 and 98 per cent of all children in the world were at some point confronted with corporal punishment. Regarding the number of children that went missing and were sexually abused on the Internet, there was research into the sexual behaviour of minors, including on the vulnerability of minors in chat rooms. The Government was investigating at present how to respond to incidents where minor migrant children became involved in illegal prostitution, but it was difficult to come up with solid solutions that could be enforced from a legal point of view.

With regards to child abuse, and the National Action Plan to Combat Sexual Abuse of Children, this particular Action Plan had now ended, and had not been renewed, as it was considered that it had come up with concrete proposals, and that it was time to make these more effective. On domestic violence, efforts were being made to have every incident registered, thus to have clearer figures on the issue. There was also a Plan of Action which aimed to improve the lives of the youth in the Netherlands, and this covered housing, employment, care, and other issues. The approach was very comprehensive, with a good potential of responding to the multi-faceted problems faced by youth, and guaranteeing a personal approach to each child. The programme also applied to ex-convicts, providing them with immediate temporary housing and helping them to avoid behaviour that was not conducive to good citizenship. Research in the Netherlands showed there were a number of qualitative aspects which contributed to the occurrence of domestic violence, including low-self esteem, excessive alcohol and drug use, bad communication within families, and the aspect of rapid change of partners. Every year, 57,000 domestic crime reports were entered into the police crime database, but it was a known fact that only 12 per cent of domestic crime incidents were reported, and of those that were, only 47 per cent led to the lodging of an official complaint. In more than half of these cases, the perpetrator was apprehended.

On the ways in which the Government aimed to ensure equality between men and women, the Equal Treatment Legislation was an important tool in this regard. The Government also had taken numerous policy measures to ensure equality. Achieving gender equality could be challenging in various fields, and this was why the Government mainstreamed gender aspects in all policies and Ministries. The Ministry of Social Affairs also subsidised various projects aimed at improving the situation of women, including those from ethnic minorities. All stakeholders in the Netherlands worked on education and integration projects for minorities, arrangements for combating the excessive debt of the poorest part of society, and to decrease the non-use of benefits and assistance schemes, among others. On early school-leavers, the number was starting to decrease- in 2004 it was 64,000, and it was 57,000 in 2005, although this was still unacceptably high. The causes could be identified as mainly making the wrong choice of professional education, at which point study problems began. Early prevention of language and learning deficits, the facilitation of the shift from primary to secondary education, stricter attendance rules and means for ensuring this, and the combination of learning and practice were all means which were used to bring the figure down.

Mr. de Klerk, clarifying the issue regarding private and public schools, said that they were nearly entirely funded by the Government, and pointed out that there was an Islamic University in Rotterdam, but it did not have a recognised curriculum and was not funded by the Government. The institution itself said it did not accept foreign money.

Questions by Committee Experts

In follow-up questions, Experts asked why the State party did not recognise the link between prostitution and trafficking, as this was like denying gravity; whether there was recognition of trafficking of young boys for prostitution; a request for clarification on the non-use of benefit schemes in a self-activating social system; a request for more extensive information on the strategy system for social relief in the next report, as well as for more disaggregated information on the numbers of men who took paternity leave and also took up possibilities for part-time work; whether it was criminalized when a minor was used in child pornography, and what were the sanctions imposed; and what was the Government doing with regards to the phenomena of missing children.

Response by Delegation

Responding, the delegation said it was not the position of the Government that there was no linkage between prostitution and trafficking, but it failed to see a linkage between the legalisation of prostitution and trafficking, and believed it could fight trafficking more easily in the context of open prostitution. The possession of child pornography was criminal under the Code of Criminal Law. Punishment went up to a maximum of six years. Regarding abducted children, often for sexual purposes, the delegation did not have figures, but knew that these were very rare incidents, all of which received a lot of media attention, and a criminal investigation was always opened, some of which led to prosecutions for child pornography. On the lack of take-up of social benefits, this phenomenon existed because of a lack of awareness of what kind of benefits or forms of social assistance were available, and this was due to two causes. Efforts were made to support people in the procedure of requesting benefits or assistance.

Concluding Remarks

In concluding remarks, Mr. de Klerk said he would like to thank the Committee for the many questions, which had been an exchange of views. It was the view of the delegation that quite a few fundamental issues had been raised. The first of these was the nature of the rights in the Covenant and their political applicability. Individuals had the full right in the Netherlands of going to court if their rights were violated, and the Netherlands would make the list of these cases and bring them forward in the future. All rights applied to nationals and non-nationals who lawfully resided in the Netherlands, who were entitled to all rights in the Covenant. The rights of those not lawfully residing in the country were limited to a minimum humanitarian package. The Netherlands would continue to be a country which required workers from other countries, and would continue to host foreign students, but would also continue to require rules in this regard.

Many Experts had posed questions on sexual issues, including the age of consent, homosexual marriage and other related issues. The views of the Netherlands, established after debate at many levels, were not yet widely shared internationally, but these were rights which it would continue to defend, as they were based on non-discriminatory grounds. This also applied to the Netherlands’s policy on prostitution - human rights considerations played an important role in changing its views, as it did not agree that prostitution was per se a human rights violation. Trafficked women and minors could be separated from legal prostitutes more easily in a context of legalisation of the phenomenon. With regards to domestic violence, the figures that had been established had been shocking, and the Netherlands intended to read these more effectively in order to find a solution. The Netherlands would remain active in this area, both domestically and internationally. Domestic violence and intimidation, including sexual intimidation, were not allowed, and physical domestic violence was a criminal act. However, specific factors needed to be taken into consideration in applying the penalty for such violence.

A final point which had been very interesting was the notion that new forms of exploitation were coming up with regards to electronic media, and this was an issue that in some ways went beyond the Committee. These were important new phenomena, with new forms of exploitation and dependence created, such as in chat rooms, and the Netherlands would continue to monitor these carefully. These were global phenomena. The delegation had found the discussion very stimulating.

In concluding remarks, the Chairperson, Virgina Bonoan-Dandan, said the Committee thanked the openness and receptivity in which the Netherlands had received the questions. The discussion showed how wide and how profound economic, social and cultural rights could be, and it was the experience of the Committee that in developing and poor countries there were problems of a particular nature, and another level was touched upon in developed countries. There were, however, no typical societies or cultures, and this was why the work of the Committee was very challenging in that regard. Today’s society had given rise to certain phenomena, some of which had never been envisaged. The more technology improved, the less well human beings appeared to respond to it. The suggestions of the Committee were not criticisms, they were meant to help the State party to improve the situation.