Press Statement, 16 March 2003
The Dutch government, through its Finance Ministry, has again stopped the granting of a monthly € 201.37 allowance to Prof. Jose Maria Sison, the monthly payment for rent of € 272.27, and medical insurance and insurance against legal accountability. In a letter to the Utrecht Municipality dated 7 March 2003, the Finance Ministry summarily rejects the municipality's request to resume granting of those basic benefits. The Finance Ministry had ordered the stopping of such benefits starting in November 2002. Since November 2002, none of these basic allowances have been given to Prof. Sison.
In September 2002 the Utrecht Municipality requested and received permission to provide the above-mentioned benefits to Prof. Sison, after the Finance Ministry had ordered the stopping of such benefits in August 2002. Those benefits were restored only for September and October 2002.
While the Dutch government and the Council of the European Union have cited United Nations Security Council 1373 of 28 September 2001 as the main basis for depriving Prof. Sison of his basic needs, they completely disregard and grossly violate UN Security Council Resolution 1452 adopted on 20 December 2002. Through this latter resolution, the UN Security Council decides that funds and other financial assets or economic resources necessary for basic expenses, including payments for foodstuffs, rent or mortgage, medicines and medical treatment, taxes, insurance premiums, … should not be denied those affected by the member States' combatting of terrorism.
The UNSC in this resolution “Urges Member States to take full account of the considerations set out above in their implementation of resolution 1373 (2001).” In this resolution the UNSC also decides that the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999) “shall maintain and regularly update a list of the States that have notified the Committee of their intent to apply the provisions of paragraph 1 (a) above in their implementation of the relevant resolutions…“ This clearly implies an obligation of the Netherlands, as a member State of the UN, to notify the Committee of cases in which funds and other financial assets or economic resources necessary for basic expenses, including payments for foodstuffs, rent, medicines and medical treatment, and insurance premiums, as is clearly the case with regards to Prof. Sison, should not be blocked. This Committee consists of all the members of the UN Security Council.
The Dutch State should not need to be reminded of Article 25 of the Charter of the United Nations, which stipulates: “The members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council in accordance with the present Charter”.
Committee DEFEND condemns the Dutch government for this latest in a series of acts that violate the basic rights of Prof. Jose Maria Sison. This act is likewise a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1452.
The Dutch Finance Ministry not only stops the provision of basic allowances for the basic needs of Prof. Sison, it also declares in its 7 March 2003 letter that the Minister of Justice, following the standpoint of the Cabinet, is “intending to terminate Mr. Sison's right to the ROA-allowances and in the near future, it will put into motion the procedure for this”. The ROA allowances refer to the E 201,37 for food and medicines E 272,27 for rent of the apartment, medical insurance and insurance against legal accountability. ROA refers to the arrangement for reception of asylum seekers, a service of the municipality.
In condemning these inhuman acts of the Dutch government in violation of the rights of Prof. Sison, Committee DEFEND calls for the intensification of the worldwide campaign for the rights of Prof. Sison.
On 7 February 2003, the international team of lawyers defending Sison filed an application/complaint against the European Union at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. The application/complaint enjoins the European Court of Justice to order the removal of Prof. Sison from the EU list of terrorists and to declare as illegal the EU Council Regulation 2580/2001 of 27 December 2001 which is used as the basis of the EU Council Decision of 12 December 2002 which put Prof. Sison on the EU list of terrorists.
On 5 February 2003, DEFEND Committee submitted more than 27,600 signatures to the Council of the European Union demanding the removal of Prof. Sison from the list of so-called terrorists. The signatures come from many countries and the different continents.
Prof. Sison's lawyers are now considering the filing of a court case against the Dutch government. Thereafter, they are prepared to file a case in the European Court of Human Righs in Strasbourg, to present a complaint against the Dutch government for violations of Article 6 (Right to Due Process) of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (EVRM) and Protocol 1 of Article 1 of EVRM on the Right to Dispose of One's Property.
The campaign to defend Prof. Sison received an impetus a few days ago, when former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark signed the International Appeal for Prof. Sison. Earlier, Femke Halsema of Groenlinks and Jan Marijnissen of the Socialistische Partij (SP) of the Netherlands led Dutch parliamentarians in defending Sison's rights. Archbishop Joris Vercammen of the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands and Dominee Hans Visser of the Pauluskerk in Rotterdam came out in strong support of Sison. On 6 March 2003 the Bishops of the Philippine Independent Church, the Episcopal Church in the Philippines and the United Church of Christ of the Philippines issued a statement in powerful support of Sison.
###
For more information please contact: Ruth de Leon International Coordinator Committee DEFEND Telephone: 31-30-2368722 Email: defenddemrights@yahoo.com Website: www.defendsison.be