An open letter to the United Nations Division for Inclusive Social Development, shared by Geen Dor Hout
The Netherlands, July 1th, 2021
To whom it may concern,
We’re writing to you as concerned Dutch citizens, because our government has no intention to change their course in stopping the spread of COVID-19 and to actually protect the public health in our society, even though they’re saying that they have been taking measures to protect the ‘vulnerable’ citizens. That’s also what Dutch Parliament Member Sylvana Simons (BIJ1) has concluded, hence her speech; her full speech can be found here (below).
With the Delta-variant on the rise, our government has lifted almost all of the COVID-restrictions, including wearing a face-mask in public crowded spaces. While only 30 percent of the Dutch citizens have been fully vaccinated.
We are asking you to help us putting a stop to the ‘herd immunity’ strategy in the Netherlands and to work towards a containment strategy with the Dutch government. By knowingly creating long covid-patients (10-15%) the Netherlands is violating multiple human rights treaties, such as the UN Convention on the Rights of People with a Disability. For example, article 11:
Situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies
States Parties shall take, in accordance with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disasters.
Our Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his minister of Health Hugo de Jonge have admitted that they are purposely spreading the virus to commit to a ‘herd immunity’ strategy’, which comes at the expense of an effective containment strategy and people who are the current victims of this strategy.The government is failing to provide clear communication about the corona-virus and what we can do to protect ourselves. This causes misinformation to be spread around and the people are also divided among themselves on what to do to fight the virus, while many more people are claiming that COVID-19 does not exist, instead it’s being compared to influenza and there is resistance to being vaccinated. Therefore there is doubt and resistance against the containment measures that are needed to fight the spread of the virus of COVID-19.
In conclusion, we would like to confer with you about which steps we should be taking as citizens to ensure that our human rights are being protected and to put an end to our government’s continuation of the ‘herd immunity’ strategy. We recognize that the Dutch government has yet to ratify the optional protocol of the CRPD, still we think it is of the utmost importance to bring this to your attention and to ask for your input to help the Netherlands fight COVID-19 and its variants.
Yours sincerely,
Concerned Dutch citizens.