Dutch Government condemns new anti-Muslim film

The Dutch Ambassador to Yemen, Dr. Harry Buikema

Relations between the Muslim world and the West plummeted after the infamous  Danish cartoons depicted Muslims and Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). Now a Dutch politician has announced a recently released film containing insults to the Holy Quran and Muslims. The Dutch Ambassador to Yemen, Dr. Harry Buikema, held a press conference with Yemeni journalists to discuss the film and explain the Netherlands’ attitudes towards Muslims and the Islamic World. 

AMBASSADOR Buikema, cooperating with the First Secretary and Security and Press Officer, Michiel van Campen, for Political and Human Rights, declared his government’s opposition to the politician who is making the film, during a press conference held at the Ambassador’s residence last Tuesday. 

The Ambassador explained that although freedom of expression is enshrined in his country’s constitution, this cannot be used as a shield by those who seek to insult and denigrate others. The Dutch government has also been seeking a political way to prohibit the release of this film, he added.

The Ambassador stated that his government is seeking to preserve its relations with the Muslim world, including its own small, but important Muslim minority in the Netherlands numbering just over one million, or 6 percent of the  population. He stressed that there is a great deal of civil and political cooperation with the Muslim community in the Netherlands and that “it is well known that the Netherlands guarantees freedom of religion and that Muslims residing in the Netherlands are free to conduct their rituals and build mosques.”

Muslims play an active part in Dutch society and two members of the Dutch government are Muslims. “The Muslim community in the Netherlands has proven its maturity and its awareness of the context in which free and open debate takes place in our country,” the Ambassador stated. 

He also expressed the support of the Dutch people saying that “[they] feel concerned that such acts damage our relations with Muslims. The government and the large majority of Dutch population stand together to condemn these acts.” 

During the press conference, also to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of development relations between Yemen and Netherlands,  the Ambassador distributed the speeches of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mr. Jan Peter Balkenende, and the statement of the Dutch Foreign Ministry on the film. 

The speech by Mr. Balkenende. stated that “the Netherlands upholds the principles of freedom and respect. People deserve respect for what matters to them most, their beliefs and their identity. Constitutional liberties must be defended; extremism and terrorism must be resisted.” 

The contents of the film are unknown to the public at this time, but many threats have been made against the Dutch government, especially Mr. Greet Wilders, a member of the Dutch Parliament  known critic of Islam and creator the film. “Nevertheless, it is clearly eliciting exceptionally strong reactions. We condemn all threats, including those that have been made against Mr. Wilders. We call on governments to uphold the principles of international laws, such as the obligation it enshrines to protect foreign interests, national and businesses,” said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister also confirmed in his statement that it is their responsibility to make clear to everyone that the views and actions of this one elected representative are not those of the government. “We defend the core values of freedom and respect. We guarantee freedom of expression and of religioun for Muslims as for everyone else.”

“We are trying day by day to ensure that all the groups that make up the population of the Netherlands can live and work together peacefully,” he added. “The government thus has a very different standpoint from Mr. Wilders in this matter; we fundamentally disagree with him.”

“It was and is our responsibility to draw Mr. Wilders’ attention to the possible consequences of his deeds. Freedom does not absolve anyone from responsibility,” he stated. “Already we have to take account of serious threats to Dutch people and Dutch interests in a number of countries. We have the duty to point this to Mr. Wilders.”

According to the statement of the Dutch Foreign Ministry, “Mr. Wilders does not represent the opinion of the Dutch government on this issue. Nor does his conception of Islam represent the perspective or policy of the Dutch government in any way.”

The statement also explained that all people in the Netherlands have the right to express their opinions without the prior consent of the authorities, however “the person exercising this freedom however has the responsibility for how it is exercised.” The Prime Minister and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged Mr. Wilders to take this into account.

According to the Dutch constitution, the government sees no possibility of prohibiting the film before it is released, yet after the film has been broadcast, the government will investigate the possibility that Mr. Wilders has committed criminal offenses and the Public Prosecution Service will take a decision whether or not to prosecute.

The Dutch government continued to reiterate that is respects all religions, including Islam, and it will continue to combat hatred, discrimination and intolerance and it doing all it can to deescalate the situation. 

During this film controversy, Michiel van Campen also talked about the long-standing Yemeni-Dutch relations during the last visit of the Dutch Minister for Cooperation to Yemen and his visit to the Kharaz Camp for Refugees.

Yemen and the Netherlands have maintained a bilateral development cooperation relationship since 1978. The bilateral development cooperation program aims at assisting Yemen to achieve sustainable economic and social development, focusing on education, health and water. 

Poverty reduction is the underlying objective of Dutch development policy. The policies are determined by the general development plan and the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) of the receiving country, which should include GAVIM objectives (a Dutch acronym for good governance, poverty reduction, gender, institutional development and environment). 

The allocation for Yemen in 2005 was €21.7 million, in addition to funds from a central fund for education, of €8.3 million.

In 2000 the development program between Yemen and The Netherlands steered away from a project based portfolio towards a sector-wide approach. The concept of the sector-wide approach has emerged to encompass a range of changes in the practice of development cooperation. This allows for multi-donor support and developing both macro and sector-based programs. With this approach, the receiving government retains control over the projects

In the past the Netherlands government supported a number of projects which intended to create direct benefits for the people in a certain area. The results of those efforts were mixed; sometimes they created lasting improvements, but often the projects’ benefits disappeared soon after the project itself. 

As part of a general shift in thinking about how to make aid more effective, the Netherlands government actively supports partner countries’ own poverty reduction strategy. Additionally, strategies for development should be part of an overall coherent plan, and should be well coordinated, ideally by the recipient government.

The Dutch Ambassador also says that the the refugees and people smuggling operations in Yemen is one of the most important priorities of the Netherlands. 

Mr. Campen says that dealing with the issue of refugees involved three strategies. 

The first is to deter refugees from traveling and taking the risks that lead to death, the second is to receive lots of requests from the Yemeni side to provide assistance to refugees and the third is the direct financial support, such as the €500 million grant approved by the Minister to improve the conditions of refugees in the Karaz Camp.

Amidst the growing film controversy in the Netherlands, many officials are trying to make sure that the Muslim world knows of the support they provide and condemns insult to Islam or other religious groups.

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