Via Doug Ireland: the Dutch government is planning to end a moratorium on deporting gay Iranian asylum seekers back to their home country. This is simply monstrous. Homosexuality is illegal in Iran, and gays there are subject to arrest, torture, and execution. The Netherlands is thus planning to deport people to their deaths. Quite apart from violating the Refugee Convention (which defines a refugee as someone with a well-founded fear of persecution due to their race, religion, political opinion or membership of a particular social group), this almost certainly violates the Convention Against Torture's ban on "refoulement".
If you would like to protest this revolting decision, you can contact the Dutch Ambassador, Ms Rasha H.E.C.M. ter Braack, at:
Royal Netherlands Embassy
P.O.Box 840
Cnr. Ballance & Featherston Street
Wellington
Tel: +64 04 471 6390
Fax: +64 04 471 2923
Or you can email them at WEL@minbuza.nl.
3 comments:
Because I don't read Dutch, and the comment with the translation on Doug Ireland's blog wasn't posted at the time?
But since it clearly needs to be said: no, I don't think they should be deporting Christians to Iran. They too have a well-founded fear of persecution, and the Dutch government's idea that they should just keep their faith secret from the authorities is as much as admitting so.
Posted by Idiot/Savant : 3/06/2006 12:36:00 AM
It just shows how well-founded last year's description of the Dutch cabinet as a bunch of petit-bourgeois with a smalltown outlook was. Not my description but one by the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs and which almost caused a diplomatic row between the low countries.
Posted by Hans Versluys : 3/06/2006 03:49:00 PM
This is the same Dutch who sold out the people of Srebrenica. I have met a lot of lovely Dutch people. But they have tendency to smugness and they are terrified of anything that might require any sort of sacrifice on their part or of their standard of living.
Posted by Sanctuary : 3/08/2006 01:10:00 PM
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