Netherlands falls on anti-corruption ranking amid accusations of selective human rights

The Netherlands again fell on Transparency International’s anti-corruption ranking, achieving its lowest score ever in the ranking published on Tuesday. On the same day, officials accused the Netherlands of being selective when it comes to human rights.

According to Transparency International, the Netherlands is in a negative trend on the annual Corruption Perceptions Index, coming in 7th place in 2012, then eighth place in 2017, and now in ninth place. The Netherlands achieved 78 points, its lowest score ever. Many other European countries also scored lower than ever.

The researchers said that the Dutch government “seems to have little respect for the democratic process” because laws are regularly not or not fully implemented. Furthermore, the organization believes that the Netherlands has a government culture in which information is quickly hidden, which means that journalists, for example, do not have access to it. There is also criticism of the lack of a lobby register.

Like last year, crime is another point of concern. The NGO pointed out that criminals need corruption for false identity documents or enforcers turning a blind eye, for example. “The pressure from the underworld on administrators and civil servants is increasingly felt and the fear is that there is insufficient resilience against this, especially at the local and provincial level,” the organization reported.

According to director Lousewies van der Laan, there are simple solutions the Netherlands can take to increase transparency, such as a national lobby register.

Also on Tuesday, the International Research and Policy Evaluation (IOB), an independent department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, criticized the Netherlands’ handling of human rights. Internationally, the Netherlands is one of the leading countries that advocates for agreements on human rights, but it is also selective in this. For example, the Netherlands held back against Egypt at the Human Rights Council of the United Nations because it was in discussions with the country about migration.

Furthermore, the researchers concluded that the financial support for human rights organizations is fragmented across many countries and themes and is often short-term. “The Netherlands did a bit of everything everywhere,” said policy researcher Martin van Vliet. The IOB advised the Ministry to limit itself to a limited number of countries and human rights.

The research covered the period from 2017 to 2022. During those years, the Netherlands advocated for UN committees that investigated possible human rights violations in Yemen, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Ukraine.