The first tactic is to declare war on gender. The Schoof cabinet did not declare war on gender, but did start erasing the word gender from all policy documents. In doing so, the cabinet set itself on a slippery legal slope. Before the law, all people must be treated equal, regardless of sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation. This means that all sexes and gender identities must be recognized in decision-making. Removing "gender” from policy texts undermines this principle.
The next tactic is to dismantle the frontline defense of equal rights and democracy: called civil society, such as organizations working on access to adequate sexual and reproductive health and rights, the rights of trans people and sex workers. By cutting of their resources, restricting their advocacy, criminalizing their activities and overwhelming them with rules and regulations. Shortly after taking office, the Schoof cabinet did decide to stop all funding for gender equality and women’s rights. Thousands of women human right defenders would have been affected by this decision, if the Parliament had not pushed for continuation of funding.
In addition, civil society organizations were prohibited from using Dutch financial support for their advocacy work. Thus, women’s and LGBTQI+ rights organizations were not allowed to use Dutch funds to alert Dutch officials and politicians about violations of human rights.
We also witnessed a norm shift in spreading unfounded accusations against and criminalization of civil society organizations and human rights defenders. Through disinformation campaigns that can spread freely. Even within this House accusations are made without intervention by the chair or interruptions by other members of Parliament.
The final tactic is intimidation and violence. Ranging from hate mail and intimidating phone calls, website hacks, attempts to break into offices and disrupt events, including the streaming of hardcore pornography and beheading videos during online sessions of women rights defenders. The impact is significant: organizations have to secure events, offices and staff. At the same time, the number of prosecutions is minimal.
The anti-rights movement undermines our democratic rule of law, and is being exploited by state actors for that very purpose. It is crucial that this House recognizes, prevents, and addresses the tactics being used:
= Incorporate the response against the anti-rights movement into national and foreign security strategies.
= Expose anti-gender and anti-LGBTQI+ influence in the Netherlands and actively support organizations that advocate for women’s and LGBTQI+ rights, such as requested
in the motion Dobbe and Van Campen.
= Strengthen gender equality and women’s rights in our legal frameworks, and ensure the government consistently upholds binding international and treaty obligations regarding gender equality and women’s rights: 1) Enact a constitutional ban on discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression. 2) Expand the prohibition against group defamation in the Penal Code to include "gender” as a protected ground. 3) Follow the example of France, which in 2024 became the first country in the world to include the right to safe access to abortion in its Constitution.
= Stop smear campaigns and attacks on civil society organizations that advocate for democracy and human rights in this House. And immediately condemn intimidation of civil society organizations.
