Human Rights in the Foreign Policy of the Netherlands

The Human Rights Position in the Foreign Policy of the Netherlands less visible? Recently the Dutch Government collapsed after Prime Minister Wim Kok's cabinet resigned en-masse over a report condemning the Netherlands' failure to prevent the worst massacre of the Bosnian war. The official report blamed politicians and military top brass for the failure of its U.N. peace-keepers to prevent the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. The report has led to an intense political debate on the Human Rights in the Foreign Policy of the Netherlands, national as well as in the rest of the world. During the last quarter of the twentieth century the Netherlands has defended its positions and viewpoints during discussions in international fora what resulted in the country to be considered as a profound "Human Rights Protector" by the international society. In this study the governmental policy principles on human rights as part of overall foreign policy, the nature of human rights, standard setting, implementation, economic relations, intervention in the domestic affairs of other countries, and development policy are analysed and compared with actual policy. This comparison makes it possible to draw also conclusions on the role of domestic pressure by NGOs and the views of different ministries on human rights in actual policy-making. Moreover, the development of Dutch foreign policy on human rights over the years is studied, taking into account the impact of the European Union. For the purpose of this study, a number of cases of human rights policy have been studied. These are cases where violations of international human rights standards have occurred in different regions, which were broadly debated in the Netherlands. The cases are: Argentina, Chile, Central America, Turkey, the Soviet Union, China, Indonesia and South Africa. This book is meant for students and professionals in international relations, foreign policy-making and human rights at the national level and at the multilateral level. Every individual who is interested in the current crisis of the Human Rights aspect in the Foreign Policy of the Netherlands, who likes to brainstorm on how it could get so far and who likes to attain the debate on its possible outcome on the International Society, will find in this book an excellent overview of national and international developments concerning this topic. Due to its detailed table of context and index, this book will prove itself an invaluable search engine for everyone interested in human rights and the Netherlands.