While various presidents are fighting for their futures in Africa and Europe, the Dutch polish up their human rights act. DNA reveals a father who committed incest and the name of the last unknown soldier at a Dutch war grave.

Sarkozy tries to redeem himself in Ivory Coast
For once Trouw and de Volkskrant agree that they don’t know whether incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo has capitulated or not. After Reuters reported that the president was negotiating conditions for his resignation, AP reported that in a telephone interview with the French press the president said he was not planning to stand down yesterday evening. He even still claims he won November’s presidential election – in spite of the international community recognising his rival Alassane Ouattara as the winner. One thing is clear: the situation in Ivory Coast is confusing and it is only a matter of time before Mr Gbagbo is forced to hand over power. 

Meanwhile there is criticism at the UN of yesterday’s joint UN/French offensive against Gbagbo’s supporters. Russia and South Africa condemn the UN bombings of targets in Abidjan. Trouw quotes South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, “I don’t remember giving anyone a mandate to bomb Ivory Coast.” But the paper points out that the French have a very different point of view, French paper Libération asks why it took four months for the UN and the French troops to intervene? The French paper suggests that it might be easier for Mr Gbagbo’s troops to capitulate to international forces than to a bunch of rebels. In any case, both Trouw and de Volkskrant appear to agree that Gbagbo’s weapons were being used against civilians and UN troops and therefore action was warranted. Trouw adds that French President Nicolas Sarkozy is trying to redeem himself after choosing the wrong side during the Tunisian revolt.

Berlusconi is fighting for his political future in court
While the French president is battling for his political future in North Africa, Italian President Silvio Berlusconi is battling for his in the Italian courts. Nrc.next writes that it’s all up to Karima el Mahroug (better known as Ruby); she can either speak the truth or earn herself a tidy five million euros in hush money. The paper writes that Ruby is believed to have had paid sex with the 74-year-old president 13 times during his notorious Bunga Bunga orgies. Berlusconi is accused of paying for sex with a minor and abuse of power when he ordered the police to release Ruby after she had been arrested for stealing, claiming she was a niece of then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Ruby, who is from Morocco, only came to Italy eight years ago. Her parents, father a street vendor, mother a cleaner, hoped for a better future for their daughter. I’m not sure this is what they had in mind. Ruby went from care home to care home and eventually fell into the hands of pimps. The pressure on the young woman is enormous, but she also appears to be enjoying the attention. The paper thinks she will probably deny having sex with the president and that she is a prostitute although it might be more difficult to explain how she earned 187,000 euros and gold.

Netherlands tries to polish up its human rights policies
In the past, the Netherlands has prided itself on being an advocate for international human rights. But six months ago, Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal was criticised in parliament for neglecting human rights policies. Today the minister will present a policy paper entitled ‘Responsible for Freedom’, in which he outlines the government’s position on the issue. In an interview in de Volkskrant he says he want to stop wagging his finger and share responsibility with the UN and EU instead.

Meanwhile nrc.next writes that the government wants to scrap the equal treatment commission and replace it with a human rights council. This is because the Netherlands does not have A-status when it comes to international human rights. Having a council will mean that the Netherlands will be a fully fledged participant at UN human rights meetings with voting rights. At the moment the Dutch can only attend such meetings and listen. Right-wing parties have been calling for the equal treatment commission to be scrapped for some time as they see it as too left-wing. Left-wing parties, however, also welcome the council and want its implementation speeded up, although they do have a number of questions about whether the council will have teeth. The only party to oppose the idea is the Freedom Party, which calls it a “left-wing multi-culti cuddle club”. The party thinks human rights are fine in the Netherlands so such a body is unnecessary.

DNA test reveals incest
The father of the 12-year-old girl who recently gave birth during a school trip has been arrested. According to the Public Prosecution DNA tests show he is almost certainly the father of the child – although according to De Telegraaf there cannot be 100 percent certainty because the underage mother is likely to have her father’s genes anyway.  The paper reports that the man had already been convicted of the sexual abuse of another daughter from an earlier relationship. A relative is quoted as saying “He is sick, we have to acknowledge that.”  The paper asks why the children’s protection agency did not intervene earlier as it had had reports against the man in the last two years. De Volkskrant writes that the man could face up to 12 years in prison for sex with a child under-12.

It is interesting how the press handle the reporting of this case differently. In De Telegraaf the girl’s first name is given, but de Volkskrant  refers to her as the 12-year-old from Groningen even though her name is now widely known. De Volkskrant describes the commotion caused by the reporting of this story. Journalists tried to question children at the same primary school of the girl. When the news broke, her father and brother had to move to a secret address because of the attention of the press outside their home. Meanwhile mother and child are in foster care and her brother has now been taken into care as well. The girl was questioned by police after the birth, but refused to say who the father was. Since then she has been left in peace to deal with the trauma of giving birth at such a young age. Now that she appears to be the victim of incest, the help given to her will  be adapted to help her with that trauma too.

Last unknown soldier named
After 71 years, the last unknown soldier has been identified at the Grebbeberg war graves between Arnhem in the east and Utrecht in central Netherlands. DNA has finally put a name to 21-year-old Wim Brummelhuis who died in May 1940 along with 416 others. His 14 brothers and sisters had always tried to find out what happened to him, but the last one died in 2007 without knowing. Of course, writes AD, the most likely scenario was that he died in the fighting. The last anyone saw of him was him walking in the direction of heavy German artillery fire.  But many Dutch soldiers were captured. The Dutch troops held out for three days along the Grebbeberg's natural defence line, in spite of being outnumbered by far. The body of the soldier will be reburied on Friday in the presence of his nephews and nieces.