Colombian victims of “blood coal” are in the Netherlands on Thursday 20 April to file a complaint against energy companies RWE, Vattenfall, Uniper, and Engie for their contribution to severe human rights violations surrounding coal mines in Colombia. The complaint, supported by SOMO and PAX, is submitted to the National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines in The Hague. It also targets bulk handling company HES International and the ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, through which the coal was shipped.
A nuclear arms race has terrible consequences. The Netherlands should therefore refrain from storing nuclear weapons in its own country, PAX director Rolien Sasse argues today in Trouw.
Ukraine is one of the world’s largest agricultural producers and exporters, but its agro-industry and overall production capacity have been severely impacted by intense fighting and deliberate military targeting, new PAX research shows. Damaged agro-industrial sites pose significant environmental risks with potential long-term consequences to public health; the new report finds numerous verified incidents against these types of facilities.
Not many will know: The Netherlands was the European host of the second global Summit for Democracy on 29 and 30 March. The Summit for Democracy is an initiative of US President Joe Biden, in response to the questionable state of democracy worldwide. The aim of this summit for heads of government is to highlight and strengthen democratic values.
On Thursday, the Dutch parliament will discuss a treaty on military cooperation between the Netherlands and Israel with Defence Minister Ollongren. According to PAX it is incomprehensible that the Netherlands wants to cooperate with Israel militarily and calls for an end to this cooperation.
The Netherlands has again been linked to an air strike that killed civilians in Iraq during the war against IS. This according to research by NOS, Nieuwsuur and NRC, supported by data from NGO Airwars. It is the third case in which information about Dutch involvement has been published. This previously happened with the bombing in the Iraqi city of Hawija in which at least 85 civilians were killed and around an airstrike on Mosul in 2015 in which four civilians were killed.
A new PAX study based on satellite analysis and open-source research demonstrates the destructive impact of twelve years of war on Syria’s forests and orchards, with over one-third of all forest being cut-down. The report, titled ‘Axed and Burned,’ is the most in-depth scientific study conducted on the many causes and consequences of tree-cover loss throughout the conflict-affected country.
Exactly seven years after EU countries struck a deal with Turkey to control migration flows, Amnesty International, PAX, Defence for Children and Stichting Bootvluchteling are holding the Dutch government liable for the consequences of the so called EU-Turkey deal. People on the run have been exposed to unnecessary harm and structural violation of their rights. Tens of thousands of people were trapped in appalling and degrading conditions on the Greek islands.
The devastating 6 February 2023 earthquake and subsequent aftershocks in Syria and Türkiye have created a disaster on a massive scale, deepening preexisting humanitarian and protection risks resulting from the nearly 12 years of conflict in Syria. Local humanitarian and civil society organizations (CSOs) must play a key role in the assessment of needs and the design and implementation of the international humanitarian response to the earthquake in Syria. All international efforts must address pre- and post- earthquake conflict and human rights risks and take a holistic approach in accordance with Triple Nexus tenets.
PAX and its partners in the ‘Musawat’ program are inviting you for the public event ‘The online public space: Zooming in on digital polarization in the MENA region’ on Friday, March 31st in Utrecht.
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