Government Should Suspend Discriminatory Test Targeting non-Western Migrants
The Dutch government should suspend its discriminatory “integration test abroad” – an exam on Dutch language and society – that is required for family migrants from some non-Western countries following a July 15 court ruling that the test is unlawful, Human Rights Watch said today....
Overseas Integration Test Infringes on Rights of Migrants
The Netherlands should abolish the overseas “integration test” that discriminatorily targets only migrants of certain nationalities trying to join their families, while citizens from other, “western” countries are exempt, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released today. People of Moroccan and Turkish origin – two of the three largest “non-western” migrant communities in the Netherlands – have been especially affected....
Jan Pronk to Present Geuzen Medal 2007 on Tuesday, March 13
The Geuzen Resistance Foundation, an organization set up by Dutch resistance veterans who fought the Nazi occupation, will present its highest honor to Human Rights Watch for its work in responding to human rights abuses and “its remarkable effectiveness in achieving results.”...
Top Story: Three weeks ago, my favorite sex advice column answered a reader's letter which asked what the reader should do about a good friend who is HIV positive but continues having sex with people without revealing his HIV status. In his response, columnist Dan Savage suggests dropping the friend, and goes on to propose "drug-support payments," where people who knowingly infect others with HIV are required to pay to support the cost of providing anti-retroviral medications to the people they infect, a burden which often falls onto underfunded state drug assistance programs. He went into more depth about it (as I'll let you read for yourself), and asked for readers' comments. Over the next week his column received a "shitstorm" of feedback from readers, and Dan answered their questions...
In a major policy shift, the Dutch government’s recognition that lesbian and gay Iranians are a “special group” facing persecution at home and deserving protection in the Netherlands sets an example for other European states of their legal responsibility not to return people to the risk of torture, ill-treatment or execution, Human Rights Watch said today....
Dutch Officials Should Not Force Choice Between Silence and Death
Dutch Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk’s threat to end a six-month moratorium on deporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) asylum-seekers back to Iran rests on serious misunderstandings of Iranian law, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Verdonk. Deporting LGBT people to Iran would violate the Netherlands’ obligation to protect people from torture, ill-treatment, and possible execution....