Dutch detention monitoring needs more independence: UN

The Netherlands needs to do more to make the official body that monitors prisons and detention centres fully independent, effective and in line with the country’s international obligations, UN experts said at the end of an official visit.

The NPM was set up in 2011 following the approval of a UN charter on detainee rights.

The Dutch ombudsman left the NPM last year, saying he feared inspectors were too close to ministers and that this was threatening their independence. That warning triggered the UN visit, news agency ANP says.

‘The fight against inhuman or degrading treatment is a continuous process and the designation of a national monitoring body is not the end but the beginning,’ said Mari Amos, head of a three-member delegation from the UN which visited the Netherlands at the end of July.

The delegation said more work needs to be done to make the NPM fully independent and effective in line with the UN anti-torture convention and other relevant international standards.

In particular, there needs to be more political support and a solid legal base for the monitoring body, Amos said. The delegates will now submit separate, confidential reports to the Dutch government and the NPM with observations and recommendations.