| Economic and labour rights are crucial to protect. Advantage1 #256203 The Netherlands should not back away from condemning human rights violations because we have economic interests in and a good relationship with particular countries, and Dutch companies should not use/set up factories or branch offices in contexts where human and labour rights are violated. |
It is important to support all human rights, not selectively those that fit comfortably within the neoliberal frame of individual freedoms. We need to be attentive to the relationship between human rights violations and economic gains/commerce. In burgeoning economies, such as in China and India, where Dutch trade is booming, human rights violations are rampant, and many of them are connected to this booming economy. The situation of women and girls workers in (garment) factories is a good example; girl and women workers are often sexually harassed, earn unfair wages and often have wages withheld, work in unsafe conditions and are met with violence and repression when they try to organise. The Netherlands should not back away from condemning human rights violations because we have economic interests in and a good relationship with particular countries, and Dutch companies should not use/set up factories or branch offices in contexts where human and labour rights are violated. Indeed, it is important to integrate attention to (women’s) human rights in trade missions and economic agreements. A consistent and transparent framework for emphasising human rights in all diplomacy and international contacts by Dutch government officials can assure a more integrated approach in the (women’s ) human rights discourse that the government upholds
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