| Chemical
weapons (Gifgasopinies) partly English. In 2007 a Dutch appeals court convicted Frans van Anraat, who in the 1980's delivered hundreds of tons of chemicals to Iraq, to 17 years imprisonment. Still, many other persons and companies have never given account of their involvement in building up the deadly arsenal that killed thousands of Kurdish and Iranian people. Read the 1997 report "Iraq's Full, Final and Complete Disclosure (FFCD) Regarding Chemical Weapons To The United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM)", which describes the role of Dutch compagnies, now finally disclosed. On the same page: In the 1980's - at the height of the Iraq-Iran war - the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs obstructed attempts to extend the list of dual use chemicals that would need an export licence, and would therefore become illegal to export to both countries because of the arms embargo in place at the time. At that time Dutch companies were making profits by selling poison gas components to the Iraqi dictatorship. During the Van Anraat trial Dutch radio programs and newspapers debated the issue. Read and listen 2006 newspapers and radio programs. |
| The
Netherlands, the arms trade and human rights The Netherlands plays
a prominent role in the export of arms. The 'alternative' report of the
Dutch arms trade from Campagne tegen Wapenhandel (CtW, the Dutch
Campaign
Against the Arms Trade) shows that the
country issued export licences for arms worth some 1.03 billion euros
in 2006. A
remarkable aspect is that a number of relatively poor countries were
among the main customers of this trade. A report of Radio Netherlands
Worldwide. December 17, 2007 |
| Arms
shipment to
Eritrea triggers row between Belgium, Netherlands (Translation from Belgium daily De Standaard). A diplomatic row threatens to arise between the Netherlands and Belgium regarding an illicit arms shipment to Eritrea. The incident was sparked by 91 containers loaded with tank components and 40 army trucks which the Antwerp customs authorities chained up in 1988 because the exporting company did not have a licence to ship the products to Eritrea. February 7, 2007 (See more on the container case in Dutch here) |
| ING and RABO-bank should stop arms
trade with Indonesia The Indonesian armed forces are planning to buy naval vessels in the Netherlands. Those can be used to continue war and repression. The RABO and ING-bank have agreed to take 95% of the financial risk. Campagne tegenWapenhandel is campaigning against this export credit support for arms to Indonesia. 2005-2006-2007 |
| Dutch
night vision
equipment to China, British exports refused, February 10, 2005 |
| What
is ITEC? Informtion
on military fair organised in Amsterdam, April 26-28, 2005. |
| Indonesia
and the
Tsunami; Indonesia's public debt The sale of two expensive
Dutch naval vessels is raising Indonesia's
foreign debt and should be cancelled. 2005 |
| The
European Union, the arms
industry and the New War What
is the role of the European Union in the New War? Can it play an
independent role as an alternative for the American military
domination? Can it contribute to more peaceful solutions for
international crisis situations? And what is the role of arms trade and
the arms industry in this era of globalisation? Nederlands Sociaal
Forum, November 28, 2004. |
| The
constitution and
the defence industry In asserting the supremacy of the market, the
European constitution
follows free trade dogma, while it excuses the arms industry, just as
in WTO trade agreements. This is only one of the examples highlighting
the neo-liberal programme underpinning the draft European Constitution,
writes Martin Broek of the Dutch Campaign against the Arms Trade and
TNI collaborator. October 8, 2004 |
| Arms are
not Tomatoes;
Arms production & trade among the ASEM countries While calls
for trade liberalisation are loudly reverberating around the world and
have resulted in major agreements on trade, arms production and arms
trade are not subject to neo-liberal market ideology. Governments
regard defence production as delivering the hardware for national
armies and arms trade as providing military muscles to allies in other
parts of the world. When a different approach is
deemed necessary to protect vital national economic and political
interests, the rules of the free market seems to be less sacrosanct.
From: Asia Europe
Crosspoints, Transnational Institute, September 2002 |
| "Theatre
Missile Defence in Europa
onzichtbaar", 'Theatre Missile Defence in Europe: Process by Stealth
The National Missile Defence (NMD) program of the US is widely covered
by the mainstream media. NMD is one of the legs of Ballistic Missile
Defence (BMD). The other leg, the so-called Theatre Missile Defence
(TMD) is not so much part of the debate on BMD. In this essay the
argument is made that TMD must be part of the debate on ballistic
missile defence as well.. |
|
|
Overview English texts |