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New Zealand welcomes this opportunity to engage with the Netherlands during the first session of the Universal Periodic Review. New Zealand would like to express its appreciation to the State Secretary for Justice for her presentation this morning.
We commend the Netherlands for the frank analysis displayed in its State report on the human rights challenges facing Dutch society, particularly in the areas of racial and religious intolerance. We are encouraged by its willingness to participate meaningfully in the UPR process. Its thorough approach is a positive example for States yet to be reviewed.
New Zealand notes with concern that there is growing polarisation in the Netherlands between people of Dutch origin and immigrants, and of the rising tide of racist and xenophobic sentiment this has generated. We concur with the importance the Government of the Netherlands places on public education, and strengthening national mechanisms to help combat racism and religious intolerance. In this context, New Zealand believes that a national human rights institution could play an invaluable role.
Establishing a national human rights institution was one of the Netherlands’ campaign pledges for election to the Human Rights Council, and new Zealand is pleased to note that the Netherlands has begun work on the establishment of a new human rights institute with tasking based on the Paris Principles.
Such an institution could play a significant role in ensuring the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms that form the very basis of Dutch society. New Zealand would welcome further elaboration on this important initiative, including on timing and the scope of the institute’s mandate.
