A foreign jurist in the Netherlands has been seriously threatened for over a year. The death threats are related to her work for the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The jurist supplies the court with material on a pre-trial investigation that the court is currently conducting on possible war crimes by Israel in Palestine. The Jordanese-Swedish jurist, Nada Kiswanson, told about the threats to NRC, a Dutch newspaper.

This is the first time that a human rights activist who works with the International Criminal Court is being threatened in the Netherlands.

Nada Kiswanson works for Al Haq, the Palestinian sister organization of the NJCM within the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), which has dealt with threats before. The NJCM is shocked by the threats Al Haq and Kiswanson have received in the Netherlands.

The protection of human rights advocates is an important part of Dutch foreign policy and the Dutch are highly appreciated for is. Now it appears that even in the Netherlands human rights advocates aren't safe, and necessary measures should be adopted. There are European and international guidelines that the state should implement as fast as possible.

Dutch government must do more

The story of Kiswanson shows that the government is not adequately equipped for the needs of human rights advocates who experience intimidation and threats in the Netherlands. The threatened person should know, for example, whom he or she can turn to in order to report the threats and receive protection; the police must be specifically prepared for these kinds of issues; the threats should be professionally documented; and the threatened person should be able to have a safe work space.

The NJCM works within the Breed Mensenrechten Overleg (a partnership of human rights organizations established in the Netherlands) for better protection of human rights activists.