Human Rights Watch is opening an office in Amsterdam, in what the US-based rights group says is “a move to intensify its advocacy on key human rights issues both in the Netherlands and around the world”.

"The Netherlands' voice and influence are needed in trouble spots around the world," says Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "The Dutch government is an important international player in defending global human rights, but its reach still falls short of its potential."

The new Amsterdam office, which opens on Tuesday, makes the Netherlands the 15th country in which Human Rights Watch has a permanent base.

Shortcomings
A few days ago the rights group sent a letter to Herman Tjeenk Willink, the man presently charged with mediating in the negotiations to form a coalition government in the Netherlands. The organisation says it hopes a new cabinet will give human rights as high a priority as possible in its international relations. What’s more, it urges the Netherlands to look closely at its own rights record and tackle shortcomings in its asylum and integration policies.

Human Rights Watch told Mr Tjeenk Willink that the Dutch authorities should stop repatriating asylum seekers to countries like Somalia, where they face the threat of torture. The group also says the Netherlands’ should scrap rules targeting certain non-Western countries, which require would-be immigrants trying to join family members living legally in the Netherlands to pass an "integration test abroad” before they are admitted. According to Human Rights Watch the policy is “discriminatory”.

Human Rights Watch also said it would like the European Union to set up institutions to advance human rights around the world, for example by pressing for investigations into crimes against humanity in Myanmar (the former Burma), protecting civilians in the African Great Lakes region, and putting pressure on the Indonesian government to release political prisoners.

See the press release on Human Rights Watch’s own website.