English
NederlandsTwee risicogroepers hebben recent een brief gestuurd aan de Verenigde Naties vanwege de huidige Covid-19 situatie in Nederland. Zij hebben ons gevraagd om deze brief te delen op onze website en social media kanalen, wat wij natuurlijk graag doen.
De brief verwijst naar de Nederlandse kudde-immuniteit strategie, die door de VN zelf worden afgekeurd, omdat die strategie onethisch is. Er wordt ook verwezen naar de recente versoepelingen, de stijgende besmettingscijfers door de Delta-variant en hoe de Nederlandse regering faalt (weigert?) om de Nederlandse bevolking te beschermen. Bij iedere verwijzing staat ook een bijbehorende link, zodat ook duidelijk wordt aangegeven waar deze vandaan komt.
We bedanken de schrijvers voor hun geweldige brief en hun inzet.
Hieronder de (Engelstalige) brief.
Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD)
United Nations Secretariat (29th Floor)
405 E 42nd Street
New York, NY 10017
United States of America
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 has concluded, hence her speech; her full speech can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_KPoXDK7hc.
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 (https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/mediateksten/2020/11/17/letterlijke-tekst-persconferentie-minister-president-rutte-en-minister-de-jonge-17-november-2020), 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.
Here is a list of what the Dutch government is (not) doing to protect us (with sources in English or Dutch):
- Reopening primary and secondary schools, pubs, events, zoo’s and fairs with little regard to the increasing infections;
- Wearing face-masks is not recommended (see also: https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/binaries/rijksoverheid/documenten/rapporten/2020/10/14/advies-nav-80e-omt/advies-nav-80e-omt.pdf, page 7) and even if they are, it’s not a ffp2-certified face mask;
- People who are in the high-risk groups and necessary personal health care employees and family members were not one of highest priorities for vaccination.
- The health care employees do not get the right equipment to protect themselves from getting infected;
- Long COVID is not something the government takes seriously, not realizing as a result that they are wrecking the economy indirectly by following a strategy of herd immunity;
- Schools are not getting sufficient help/support to improve their ventilation and air circulations and they’re also not recommending the use of face-masks and/or going into quarantine when someone in class is infected;
- The government follows a chaotic and often ineffective vaccination strategy;
- Budget cuts that have been made over a long period of time has left the Dutch health care system ill prepared to deal with a pandemic like COVID-19. The health care staff (apart from specialists) is understaffed and underpaid;
- People in high risks groups have been self-isolating since March 2020 and haven’t been given the means to protect themselves when they’re getting personal care;
- The Dutch health care system was nearing the breaking point, but the government was unwilling to impose better and stricter measures that could ensure an effective COVID-19 response that could flatten the curve of the infection rate.
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.