Latest blog articles
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Stay at home. Wash your hands frequently with soap and water. These simple indications could help save lives and flatten the coronavirus curve. Unfortunately, things are not so simple for the almost 39,000 asylum-seeking men, women, and children, among them thousands of unaccompanied children...
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“Hopefully COVID-19 will be gone at some point, but tracking technologies may stay for longer and permanently hamper the rights and freedoms of individuals”.
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During the Easter weekend there was a lack of clarity about what the rules are at the German-Dutch border. What is actually still allowed when it comes to travelling from the Netherlands to Germany and vice versa? Both the government in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and in the Netherlands have...
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It’s been almost a month since the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the way we live and work. Now that we are more used to, in a manner of speaking, the extraordinary measures to curtail the rampant spread of the virus, it’s time to seriously consider, and openly discuss, this crisis’...
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It is a tough time for everyone during this current pandemic, but increasing reports worldwide indicate that marginalised groups, including people with disabilities, are suffering even more due to structural discrimination. When governments fail to secure the survival and dignity of people with...
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Today in times of pandemic hospitals face a crisis of scarce resources. In many places this has already led to measures of triage where critical medical care is rationed to those who are most likely to benefit from it. In other places, it is clear that such measures will soon need to be taken.
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Slowly but surely we are getting a picture of the many short-term effects COVID-19 is having on the Dutch criminal justice system. In a limited amount of time, many different and far-reaching measures have been taken to adapt to the new circumstances. Courts are closed and only urgent cases are...
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Asylum-seekers at the Greek island of Lesbos are in a vulnerable position. They claim basic human rights and hold the Europeans accountable. What can a human rights scholar do? His role is limited. When there is no political will, compassion and solidarity are gone.
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Human rights violations continue to be a major issue at the EU’s external borders and pushbacks have been reported in several EU Member States. Most recently, the spotlight has been on Spain’s long-standing practice of pushbacks at the border of Melilla, as the ECtHR handed down its long-awaited...
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Today, on Human Rights Day, the Peace Palace in The Hague will be the venue of the somewhat ironic spectacle of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and global icon of human rights leading her country’s defence against allegations of genocide, the most serious violation of human rights possible.