UN experts warn over Council of Europe mixed messages on
homelessness in the Netherlands
GENEVA (16 April 2015) - The Committee of Ministers of the
Council of Europe let politics trump respect for human rights when it issued
two convoluted resolutions relating to the plight of homeless persons with
irregular migration status in the Netherlands, according to three human rights
experts*.
“The Council appears to have sent mixed and ultimately
incompatible messages in its response to the legal finding of the European
Committee of Social Rights,” said Philip Alston, United Nations Special
Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.
“On the one hand, the Ministers effectively rejected the
arguments put by the Dutch Government, which had called for the finding to be
deemed erroneous. That means that the decision stands and the Dutch
Government’s obligations to take urgent and immediate action have been upheld.
That is very good news for those who might otherwise have been left in the
future to survive without shelter through long and cold winters, as well as for
Europe’s human rights principles,” said Alston.
“On the other hand, the Ministers employed deliberately weak
language, seemingly accepting the Dutch Government’s claim that a large and
singularly vulnerable category of people are excluded from its human rights
obligations. They failed to use language consistently used in earlier
comparable resolutions, and included a diluted obligation for the Government to
report on the steps it is obligated to take to remedy the situation.”
According to the experts, it is particularly disturbing that
the Ministers failed to refer to earlier resolutions that explicitly provide
that Member States have a responsibility to prevent homelessness of persons
with an irregular migration status. “States might erroneously interpret today’s
resolution as allowing them to ignore the Charter rights of irregular migrants
present in their jurisdiction,” the experts noted.
Last year, the European Committee of Social Rights, a body
that oversees the European Social Charter, decided in two separate cases that
the Netherlands is violating the right to emergency assistance of adult
homeless irregular migrants. Decisions by the European Committee of Social
Rights are followed by resolutions by the Committee of Ministers, a political
body that cannot reverse the legal assessment by the expert body.
“The legal assessment by the European Committee that the
Netherlands has an obligation under the European Social Charter to provide emergency
assistance to homeless irregular migrants is not affected by today’s
resolution. Moreover, the Netherlands is not only under a European, but also
under an international obligation to ensure the rights of this group,” said the
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François
Crépeau.
In December 2014, the three experts were in contact with the
Dutch Government when it refused to implement the two decisions by the European
Committee of Social Rights. In January 2015, the Dutch Government announced it
would fund municipalities that are offering emergency assistance to homeless
irregular migrants – a change of its long-standing position that was welcomed
by the experts.
“I expect that the Dutch Government will now give full
effect to the decisions by the European Committee to ensure that the situation
in the country is brought into full conformity with the European Social Charter
and international human rights law,” said the United Nations Special Rapporteur
on the right to adequate housing, Leilani Farha.
The resolution by the Committee of Ministers requests the
Netherlands to report on further developments on this matter. The UN experts
will continue to closely monitor developments in the Netherlands.
ENDS
(*) The experts: The Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty
and human rights, Philip Alston; the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as
a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to
non-discrimination in this context, Leilani Farha; and the Special Rapporteur
on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau.
Philip Alston (Australia) took office as UN Special
Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights in June 2014, following his
appointment by the Human Rights Council. He is John Norton Pomeroy Professor of
Law at New York University School of Law. Mr. Alston has previously served the
UN in several capacities including as Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial,
Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Special Adviser to the UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights on the Millennium Development Goals, as well as chairperson of
the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. As Special
Rapporteur, he is independent and acts in his personal capacity. Learn more,
log on to: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/Pages/SRExtremePovertyIndex.
François Crépeau (Canada) was appointed Special Rapporteur
on the human rights of migrants in 2011 by the UN Human Rights Council. As
Special Rapporteur, he is independent from any government or organization and
serves in his individual capacity. Mr. Crépeau is also Full Professor at the
Faculty of Law of McGill University, in Montréal, where he holds the Hans and
Tamar Oppenheimer Chair in Public International Law. Learn more, log on to:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Migration/SRMigrants/Pages/SRMigrantsIndex.aspx
Leilani Farha (Canada) is the UN Special Rapporteur on
adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living,
and on the right to non-discrimination in this context. She took her function
in June 2014. Ms. Farha is the Executive Director of the NGO Canada Without
Poverty, based in Ottawa, Canada. A lawyer by training, for the past 20 years
Ms. Farha has worked both internationally and domestically on the
implementation of the right to adequate housing for the most marginalized
groups and on the situation of people living in poverty. Learn more, log on to:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Housing/Pages/HousingIndex.aspx
UN Human Rights, country page – The Netherlands:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/ENACARegion/Pages/NLIndex.aspx
UN Human Rights, follow us on social media:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/UNrightswire
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/UNOHCHR
Nema komentara:
Objavi komentar