Sufficient substantiation for mandatory face masks: Human Rights Institute

According to the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights, the Dutch government has sufficient substantiation to make it mandatory to wear a face mask in public. As soon as there is a legal basis, there are no further legal objections to a mandate, Adriana van Dooijeweert of the Institute said to NPO Radio 1.

The Human Rights Institute investigated whether making masks mandatory is an effective and proportional measure in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus. It concluded that the government sufficiently substantiated that it is.

The government is currently working on a ministerial regulation that should form the legal basis for a mask obligation. Once this is in place, masks can be made mandatory. Currently there is only an "urgent advice" to wear face masks in publicly accessible places.