CHRISTIAN UNION WANTS TO MAKE THE DENIAL OF GENOCIDE PUNISHABLE

Anp (Dutch Press Agency)
1 June 2006

THE HAGUE (ANP) – The denial of genocide, such as the Holocaust,
must be punishable. To this end the Christian Union (ChristenUnie)
party has submitted a bill to the Parliament. Anyone who intentionally
denies a genocide or a crime against humanity in order to insult
others or incite hate shall be accountable as having committed a
crime which can carry a maximum sentence of one year imprisonment,
according to the draft law.

The presenter of the bill, Dutch MP Mrs. Tineke Huizinga, wants to
have this provision included in the Dutch Penal Code as a clear signal
that such denials would not be tolerated. The law should also make it
easier to combat discrimination on Internet, said Huizinga Thursday
during the introducing of her bill.

For the victims of genocides and their surviving relatives the
intentional denials of the committed evil or distorting of the
facts are “indigestible”. Huizinga named as an example, next to
the persecution of the Jews during the Second World War, the extent
and dimensions of the slavery in which The Netherlands has played a
“disgraceful” role.

In addition, the parliament member recalled the Genocide of the
Armenians in 1915 during the Ottoman Empire, which is still being
denied by the present day Turkey and the Turks elsewhere. Huizinga and
other members of the Parliament have recently been bombarded by E-mails
forwarded especially by the Turks who oppose the Christian Union bill.

Huizinga emphasised that the bill does not seek to restrict the freedom
of speech. According to her, the historical facts should always be
open to discussion. The denial, approval or justification of genocide
should therefore be punishable when it concerns a deliberate expression
to insult and discriminate people.

The Federation of Armenian Organisations in The Netherlands called
the bill a step forward and is happy that the Armenian Genocide has
been explicitly mentioned in the Explanatory Memorandum of the bill. A
representative of the organisation, Mrs. Inge Drost, thinks that the
adoption of the bill should make it possible to close Internet sites
which engage in the denial of Armenian Genocide, such as seemingly
innocent site www.armenië.nl

In a reaction, the National Bureau for Combating Race Discrimination
and the Israel Information and Documentation Centre, likewise
announced their support of the bill. The draft law should go first
to the Council of State for advice, following which the Parliament
can start the proceedings on the bill.

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