Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07THEHAGUE421
2007-03-08 17:25:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy The Hague
Cable title:  

DUTCH OFFICIALS DISCUSS DETAINEES, HUMAN RIGHTS

Tags:  PREL CJAN KPAO PHUM NL 
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VZCZCXRO0825
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHTC #0421/01 0671725
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 081725Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8435
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHAO/AMCONSUL CURACAO 0268
RHMFISS/FBI WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 4243
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 0427
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1376
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 THE HAGUE 000421 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

JUSTICE FOR OIA (J. FREIDMAN)
DEPT FOR L/LEI AND L/FO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2017
TAGS: PREL CJAN KPAO PHUM NL
SUBJECT: DUTCH OFFICIALS DISCUSS DETAINEES, HUMAN RIGHTS
WITH BELLINGER


THE HAGUE 00000421 001.4 OF 003


Classified By: Political Counselor Andrew S. Schofer;
reasons 1.4 (b an d d).

C O R R E C T E D COPY (TEXT PARA 13)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 THE HAGUE 000421

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

JUSTICE FOR OIA (J. FREIDMAN)
DEPT FOR L/LEI AND L/FO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2017
TAGS: PREL CJAN KPAO PHUM NL
SUBJECT: DUTCH OFFICIALS DISCUSS DETAINEES, HUMAN RIGHTS
WITH BELLINGER


THE HAGUE 00000421 001.4 OF 003


Classified By: Political Counselor Andrew S. Schofer;
reasons 1.4 (b an d d).

C O R R E C T E D COPY (TEXT PARA 13)


1. (C) Summary: Legal Adviser John Bellinger met March 1 and
2 with senior MFA officials. The Dutch conveyed a laundry
list of concerns, including claims of abuse by an extradited
terror suspect, negative publicity related to a U.S. failure
in 2005 to meet our consular notification obligations, recent
press surrounding a Human Rights Watch report on "enforced
disappearances" of U.S. detainees, the Dutch bid for
re-election to the Human Rights Council and a plea for the
U.S. to run, ICC cooperation, security costs for former Dutch
parliamentarian Ayan Hirsi Ali, U.S. detainee policy, and
U.S. efforts to push for early ratification of a 2006
International Tracing Service amendment. Separately, the
Chairman of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee
focused on detainee policy. He was supportive of U.S.
efforts to raise European awareness of the problems we face
and suggested a parliamentary visit to Guantanamo. End
summary.


2. (SBU) Legal Adviser John Bellinger met March 1 and 2 with
senior MFA legal and foreign policy officials, as well as
with Parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee chair Hans van
Baalen. Present at MFA meetings were Director General for
Political Affairs Pieter de Gooijer, his deputy Wim Geerts,
Ambassador at Large for Human Rights Piet de Klerk, Legal
Adviser Liesbeth Lijnzaad, and Head of the North America
Division Jos Schellaars. Bellinger later met separately with
Lijnzaad and her deputy, Niels Blokker.

Bellinger: European govts can help set the record straight
-------------- --------------


3. (C) At the request of the Dutch, Bellinger briefly
reviewed recent detainee policy developments, including the
Boumediene decision. He underlined continuing inaccurate
press coverage in Europe and stressed the need for at least
some European government assistance in setting the record

straight - a theme he repeated several times during his
visit.

Al-Delaema claims abuse in U.S. prison
--------------


4. (C) De Gooijer raised the case of Wesam al-Delaema, a
Dutch national extradited in January on terrorism related
charges. According to de Gooijer, al-Delaema on February 22
told a visiting Dutch consular officer that he was being
abused in U.S. prison and that he did not trust his federal
defender, who he said had told officers within his hearing
that he was "almost broken."


5. (C) De Gooijer explained that Dutch Minister of Justice
Hirsch Ballin was likely to face critical questions from
opposition MPs in the coming week and would need to be able
to defend himself. Ballin was instrumental in arranging
al-Delaema's extradition. De Gooijer requested therefore
that the Dutch be allowed "to investigate (the) complaints
together with" us.


6. (C) Post consulted with Washington agencies and relayed
initial responses to the Dutch MFA. The MFA said it now had
a "more nuanced" understanding of the complaints (septel).

Consular notification case and television expose
-------------- ---


7. (C) De Gooijer next raised a consular notification case
concerning two Dutch nationals (Mr. van Heugten and Mr. de
Herdt) detained in El Paso on 25 December 2005 and allegedly
held in a maximum security facility, without consular access,
for over a month. Post has informed CA/P. Dutch media is
planning an expose about the incident.

HRW report of enforced disappearances
--------------


THE HAGUE 00000421 002.4 OF 003


C O R R E C T E D COPY (TEXT PARA 13)


8. (C) De Gooijer next raised the recent Human Rights Watch
report on allegedly "disappeared" Guantanamo detainees,
saying it had received significant attention in the
Netherlands. Bellinger stressed that the United States does
not "disappear" people. As President Bush explained in his
September 2006 speech, the U.S. has detained a limited number
of individuals in secret locations, under supervised
conditions and in conformity with U.S. law. This is
radically different than the idea of enforced disappearances,
a term born of extrajudicial killings in Latin America in the
70s and 80s.

Human Rights Council: Dutch urge U.S. to run
--------------


9. (C) De Gooijer next turned to the Human Rights Council,
calling it "not yet an equivocal success." He urged the U.S.
to run for a seat, saying that populating the Council with
the "right" countries was the only way to make it work. De
Gooijer also announced the Netherlands' candidacy for
re-election and sought U.S. support. Responding to reports
that attitudes in Washington are increasingly skeptical, de
Gooijer urged that the U.S. consult with the Netherlands
prior to making a final decision.


10. (C) Bellinger underscored one U.S. concern - that we
would find ourselves alone on the HRC, fending off OIC
initiatives, while other democracies took a free ride. De
Gooijer acknowledged that the U.S. itself would be "an object
of discussion," should it occupy a seat on the HRC. He
expressed confidence, though, that the U.S. could "handle
this" and urged us to focus on the influence we would bring
to the Council - including with GRULAC delegations.

ICC: Is there room to cooperate?
--------------


11. (C) De Gooijer turned next to the International Criminal
Court, underlining Japan's decision to join and urging the
U.S. to do the same. Wim Geerts raised this year's UNGA 6th
Commission reolution, and possible U.S. assistance to ICC
efforts on Sudan, and asked whether the U.S. and the
Netherlands might somehow help one another. Bellinger
replied that the U.S. had already made two helpful UNGA
statements (acknowledging the right of other countries to
become parties to the ICC) and that we would appreciate any
statement others might make in return. We would be willing
to explore ways to assist the ICC's efforts on Sudan,
consistent with U.S. legislation, but this could not be
viewed by ICC members as a backdoor to U.S. accession.

U.S. detainee policy and Dutch politics
--------------


12. (C) On U.S. detainee policy, de Gooijer candidly admitted
that much of what has been said by the Dutch government is
related to domestic political pressures. He opined
optimistically that the new left-of-center government would
be in "slightly better shape" fielding domestic criticism of
its relationship with the U.S. The main right-of-center
party, now in opposition, is supportive of relations with the
U.S. On the left, Labor has joined government, muting its
criticism. This left only the Socialists and the small Green
Left Party on the outside and highly critical, he said.

Ayan Hirsi Ali security costs
--------------


13. (C) Finally, Bellinger raised the case of former Dutch
Parlamentarian Ayan Hirsi Ali, whose security detail the Dutch
continues to fund. De Gooijer made clear that the
Netherlands does not consider itself responsible for
defraying the security expenses.

"Experts meeting" on intn'l law and terrorism
--------------


14. (SBU) MFA Legal Advisor Liesbeth Lijnzaad told Bellinger

THE HAGUE 00000421 003.6 OF 003


C O R R E C T E D COPY (TEXT PARA 13)

the MFA had contracted Professor Nico Schrijver to arrange a
three day seminar on international law and the challenge of
terrorism, for mid-April. Schrijver is the Chair of Leiden
University Law School's Public International Law department
and the author of a recent MFA advisory report on U.S.
detainee policy. The Dutch have had difficulty attracting
qualified U.S. academics to the conference, and Bellinger
offered several names.

International Tracing Service: U.S. is pushing too hard
-------------- --------------


15. (C) Linzaad complained about U.S. pressure to quickly
ratify last year's ITS amendment on provision of digitalized
copies. The Netherlands and others, she said, are acting in
good faith, but procedures in some countries may take up to
three years. Comment: The Dutch deposited their ratification
instrument in Berlin on March 5. End comment.

Parliamentary Foreign Policy Chairman supportive
-------------- ---


16. (C) In a cordial meeting, Bellinger welcomed the proposal
of MP Hans van Baalen, chairman of the Parliamentary Foreign
Affairs Committee, to visit Guantanamo. Van Baalen, whose
conservative Liberal Party is in opposition, thought this
possible sometime after the summer.


17. (C) Van Baalen argued that an ad hoc approach to
international law is hindering legitimate anti-terror
efforts. He agreed that IHL is inadequate to the range of
issues raised in the war on terror and thought European
politicians needed to do more to educate their publics. He
hoped to use his new position to do this.


18. (U) Legal Advisor John Bellinger has cleared on this
cable.
BLAKEMAN