Category: English

Source: Government of the Netherlands

News item | 17-03-2020 | 18:45

The Ministers and State Secretaries of Finance and of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy and the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment announced the package of measures to the Dutch House of Representatives on Tuesday. The measures form a supplement to the economic measures already implemented by the government on Thursday, 12 March.

The members of government issued a joint statement to the effect that, “First and foremost, it is vital that all Dutch citizens comply with the health-related decrees and recommendations issued at all times. However, it is clear that these measures will have a significant impact on businesses, ranging from self-employed people to major companies, in all industries. They will not have to face this alone, as this new plan will provide them with a higher level of support. Moreover, the government will provide easier access to allowances and relax the conditions to be met, thus allowing employees and self-employed people alike to keep their jobs where possible.

The government is closely monitoring the situation and is discussing this on an ongoing basis with employers’ organisations, social partners and banks. Thanks to sound government finances and budget agreements, the government will not immediately have to start cutting costs in response to this package. The government is choosing to allow the national debt to increase. We can afford to do so because our debt level was reduced in better days.

The following measures will be implemented:

1. The implementation of a temporary scheme allowing companies to apply for help in paying their labour costs (Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment)

Any company that expects to lose at least 20 per cent of its revenue may apply with the Employee Insurance Agency for an allowance that will enable it to pay its employees’ wages for three months (up to a maximum of 90 per cent of the company’s wage bill, depending on the loss of turnover). The Employee Insurance Agency will provide the company with an advance amounting to 80 per cent of the requested allowance. This will allow companies to keep paying their employees’ salaries. In order to be eligible, companies must not dismiss any employees from their jobs for economic reasons during the period covered by the allowance. This Temporary Emergency Measure for the Preservation of Jobs (NOW) will enter into effect as soon as possible and will supersede the current Regulation for Reduction in Working Hours (regeling werktijdverkorting). As of today, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment will no longer accept applications for the latter. Applications previously submitted but not yet processed will be processed in accordance with the new scheme. Companies are welcome to apply for an allowance for any drop in turnover they may have experienced since 1 March.

2. Additional support for independent contractors (Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment and municipalities)

The government will implement a temporary scheme with relaxed rules to support independent contractors (including self-employed persons) and allow them to continue their operations. The scheme will be executed by municipal governments. Self-employed persons will have recourse to an expedited procedure allowing them to apply for additional income support, which will help them pay their costs of living for a three-month period. Under this scheme, their income will be topped up to the amount of the social minimum wage. No repayment will be necessary. Applicants will not be subjected to a means test or a partner income test. Alternatively, under this temporary scheme, independent contractors may apply for support in the form of a working capital loan at a favourable interest rate.

3. Relaxed rules with respect to the payment of taxes and reduced fines (Dutch Tax and Customs Administration)

It will be made easier for companies that have been impacted by the coronavirus to request a deferment of tax payment. The Dutch Tax and Customs Administration will halt the collection of taxes at once upon receiving the request for deferment. The deferment of payment applies to income tax, corporation tax, payroll tax and value-added tax (VAT). Any fines that may be imposed for the late payment of taxes do not need to be paid. Moreover, companies are excused from having to submit evidence at once. They will be granted more time to do so. The interest on overdue tax normally levied after the term of payment has expired will be temporarily lowered from 4% to nearly 0%. This rule will apply to all tax debts. The rate for interest on tax will be temporarily lowered to practically 0% as well. This reduction will apply to all types of tax that are subject to interest on tax. The government will lower the interest rate as soon as possible.

4. Broadening of the scope of the Guarantee Corporate Financing scheme (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy)

Companies that are having difficulty obtaining bank loans and bank guarantees will have recourse to the Guarantee Corporate Financing scheme (GO scheme). The government has proposed that the guarantee ceiling for the GO scheme be increased from €400 million to €1.5 billion. The scheme will allow the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy to help small and medium-sized enterprises by guaranteeing 50% of the amount of their bank loans and bank guarantees (between €1.5 million and €50 million per company). The maximum guarantee to be awarded to a company will temporarily be raised to €150 million. The government commits to providing whatever amount is needed to grant these guarantees.

5. Interest-rate deduction on Qredits microcredit for small companies (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy)

Qredits, a provider of microcredit, finances and coaches a large number of small start-ups, which generally have difficulty obtaining loans from a bank. For instance, it provides microcredit to restaurant and cafe owners, retailers, personal care companies, construction companies and business service providers. Qredits is implementing a temporary emergency measure, under which small companies impacted by the coronavirus pandemic will be granted a six-month deferment of repayment, and the interest rate on their loans will automatically be lowered to 2% during this period. The government will allocate up to €6 million to Qredits to allow it to implement this measure.

6. Temporary guarantees for companies active in agriculture and horticulture (Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality)

The Ministry will temporarily underwrite working capital granted to farms and horticultural companies as part of the Guarantee SME Loans scheme for small and medium-sized farms (BL). In this way, the government will act as a guarantor for loans granted to farms. The government seeks to ensure that the scope of this scheme will be broadened in the short term

7. Meetings with respect to tourist tax (central government/municipalities) and the arts and culture sector

In consultation with the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG), the government will discuss the possibility of waiving provisional local tax assessments to be paid by companies and to retract previously imposed tax assessments. This proposal particularly applies to tourist tax. Furthermore, the central government has entered into talks with the arts and culture sector in order to make sure that it benefits from the generic measures, as well as from potential sector-specific measures where necessary

8. Compensation scheme for impacted sectors (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy)

A number of sectors will be hit particularly hard by the health-related measures imposed by the government. For instance, cafes and restaurants will suffer from the mandatory closure, and the travel industry will be hit hard by cancellations. To make matters worse, it will be hard for companies to recoup their losses once the coronavirus outbreak has blown over. Therefore, the government is implementing a compensation scheme with appropriate measures for companies active in the aforementioned sectors. This scheme is currently being finalised and will be submitted to the European Commission very soon for an assessment of whether it constitutes permissible state aid.

Where to look for more information if you run a company

Banks can apply for broadened credit arrangements (Guarantee SME Loans and GO) with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland), the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy’s executive agency. Companies should contact their credit provider The measures proposed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment will enter into effect as soon as possible.

If you have any other questions about the coronavirus, please consult Government.nl or the website of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). Alternatively, consult the Chamber of Commerce’s website. 

Source: Government of the Netherlands

News item | 13-03-2020 | 17:09

The supervisory authority will take account of this situation while the RIVM measure is in force. Where the child-to-carer ratio is too high, where groups exceed the maximum size or, out of necessity, have had to be combined, or where children are confronted by too many different carers, the supervisory authority will decide whether the childcare provider is in contravention, taking into account that no evident harm may be done to the safety and interests of the children.

This measure has been taken to prevent childcare centres closing due to staff shortages caused by the RIVM’s temporary measure, and these closures consequently leading to additional staff shortages in other sectors.

Source: Government of the Netherlands

News item | 14-07-2023 | 15:00

As the outgoing Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Robbert Dijkgraaf, outlined previously in his letter on the subject of internationalisation, the international dimension of higher education is of major importance for students, educational institutions, the knowledge economy and wider society. Its benefits include attracting international talent and learning international skills.

However, recent years have seen the number of international students increase sharply to reach 115,000. In academic higher education, some 40 percent of all new students come from outside the Netherlands (up from just 28 percent in 2015). Left unchecked, this will undermine the quality of education, resulting in overcrowded lecture halls and excessive workloads for lecturers. It also threatens Dutch students’ access to certain English-language study programmes. In the major cities in particular, students are also increasingly struggling to find housing.

These developments are undermining the experience that education and student life should offer. There is a need to seriously rethink the strategy for internationalisation and the sharing of talent. This proposed legislation aims to strike a sustainable balance in the Dutch higher education system. This will involve balancing the benefits of internationalisation on the one hand with the need to maintain quality, access and efficiency on the other. The ultimate aim of this targeted approach is to help sustain the leading international position enjoyed by Dutch universities of applied sciences and academic universities.

Space for multiple languages

The proposed legislation currently under consultation contains a series of ‘buttons’ that aim to manage and control the influx of international students: mechanisms designed to boost the advantages of internationalisation, limit the disadvantages and withstand major or sudden shocks. This will include specific scope for differentiation to accommodate regional differences and shortage sectors. First and foremost, the measures relate to language and aim to ensure that the use of Dutch in higher education is retained and strengthened.

The legislation also aims to make better use of the opportunities for multilingual approaches while also boosting the international standing of academic universities and universities of applied sciences. It will create more space for courses and modules in other languages within Dutch Bachelor and Associate degree programmes, up to a maximum of one third of the total credits. If more than one third of all credits are obtained on non-Dutch courses, the Minister of Education, Culture and Science will assess the suitability of a Bachelor or Associate degree programme by applying a ‘foreign-language instruction test’. He can grant permission after a thorough assessment of:

• the availability of staff in a specific sector and students’ labour market prospects. There are currently significant shortages in education, healthcare and technology. However, in some of these shortage sectors, there are also jobs where a good command of Dutch matters, for example in contact with patients.
• the regional impact of a study programme. In regions facing economic decline, a knowledge institution that has international appeal can be very welcome. The situation may be quite different in cities that are no longer able to cope with the pressure of more students.
• the extent to which a study programme contributes to the Netherlands’ international standing. Some study programmes deliver graduates who compete among the very best internationally, for example in the fine arts.
• the question of whether there are sufficient numbers of staff to teach in Dutch. If this is not the case, programmes in other languages will be permitted.
• the distribution of similar types of programmes across the country. In principle, there should always be a Dutch-language version of any specific programme available to students.

When the test is applied, compliance on just one of the elements will not be sufficient. All of the different elements will be viewed as a whole, set within the specific context of the study programme.

The proposed legislation also includes measures for promoting proficiency in the Dutch language among both Dutch and international students. A good command of Dutch opens doors in the labour market and boosts connections between students, lecturers and wider society. Institutions will still have freedom on how they intend to promote students’ language proficiency, but this will need to be firmly anchored within the basic curriculum (Bachelor and Associate degree programmes). In the case of Master’s programmes, this can be extracurricular.

All students on study programmes not taught in Dutch will have an obligation to improve their proficiency in the Dutch language. The purpose of this differs for each group: Dutch language students will be expected to improve their academic and professional language proficiency whereas the aim for students who are native speakers of other languages is to help them feel more at home in the Netherlands and improve their job prospects in the country.

Maximum number of students

The proposed legislation also includes a measure that permits limited enrolment for part of a study programme. Currently, this is only possible for study programmes as a whole. Targeting limited enrolment on a specific track will help prevent part of the programme becoming oversubscribed and reducing access to the rest of it.

The legislation also proposes a maximum number of places for students from outside Europe in cases where teaching capacity is limited. This will safeguard access for Dutch and European students. The government has a responsibility towards Dutch students and – in view of the close cooperation and reciprocity within the European Economic Area (EEA) – also towards other European countries.

Finally, study programmes that suddenly face large numbers of applications can opt to apply an emergency limit on enrolment, serving as an ‘emergency brake’ if the quality of education is threatened.

Autonomy and self-governance

The measures on language and limited enrolment will prove effective only if they are applied together, within the context of the whole system and wider society. This calls for careful management: first of all through coordination between institutions and secondly by government.

However valuable the individual autonomy of institutions may be, this cannot take precedence over the long-term sustainability of the system, access for students and efficient use of public resources. Taking responsibility for the whole system while also taking wider societal effects into account will require a different and more active attitude from government. For this reason, the proposed legislation provides opportunities for the Minister to intervene as an ultimate measure.

Anyone can express a view about the proposed legislation until 15 September. Separately from these legal measures, outgoing Minister Dijkgraaf intends to make further executive agreements with academic universities and universities of applied sciences, on such issues as more targeted recruitment, more active steering of international students towards the Dutch employment market and effective information about accommodation. These measures are necessary to plug the gap until the legislation enters into force.

Source: Government of the Netherlands

News item | 21-04-2023 | 16:56

The number of students from abroad has risen sharply in recent years. In the last academic year, there were 115,000 international students in the Netherlands, 3.5 times as many as in 2005-2006. At universities, 40 percent of new students came from abroad (2015: 28 percent). In some places, this rise is leading to problems with accommodation, a higher workload for staff and reduced access to some educational programmes.

Robbert Dijkgraaf: “The Netherlands is not an island. On the contrary, we are one of the most internationally connected countries in the world. It is therefore a good thing that Dutch students can study abroad and that international students can study here in the Netherlands. It is good for the students themselves, but also good for our society and knowledge economy. There are high-growth technology sectors that are desperate for new international talent. But it should also be possible to manage the number of students arriving here, where necessary. Left unchecked, the current numbers will lead to overcrowded lecture halls, excessive workloads for lecturers, a lack of student accommodation, and reduced access to study programmes. Using this targeted, long-term approach, I want to prevent the quality of education in our colleges and universities from coming under so much pressure that our leading international position is undermined. My aim is to strengthen that position. We need a brake as well as an accelerator – and, above all, we need a steering wheel.”

Differentiation for strategic growth sectors and regional differences

In his letter, the Minister proposes a series of instruments to improve the way in which the influx of international students is managed. This involves a combination of legislation and agreements with the institutions concerned.
The minister expressly intends to leave room for differentiation when it comes to study programmes that educate students to work in strategic growth sectors such as ICT and engineering, and for those sectors of the labour market that are experiencing shortages.

He also emphasizes that when developing these instruments, differences within the higher education system should be taken into account. Different regions of the country have specific needs, for instance. Universities and colleges located close to the borders with Germany and Belgium will occupy a different position when it comes to internationalization, of course.

Managing the system for the good of society as a whole

The package of measures firstly includes a form of central management. This will make it possible to look at the whole education system consistently and from the perspective of society as a whole. As such, it will be easier to address strategic issues pertaining to internationalization at the system level, such as: what can society and the education system cope with? How do we ensure that adverse developments around internationalization are identified in a timely manner? How is the demand for talent changing and developing? And how does that fit into the Netherlands’ growth strategy?

This new approach will provide universities and colleges with instruments that they can use to manage flows of international students better. The Minister wishes to make sure that options for intervention are in place if the system is at risk. The precise details of the new approach will be determined in greater detail in the near future.

Limits on the capacity of study programmes

Other steps involve limiting the number of students enrolled for certain study programmes when the maximum capacity has been reached. At present, such a limit is only possible for an entire study programme. The more targeted use of this instrument – such as applying it only to a certain track (e.g. one taught in a foreign language) – will improve access for Dutch-speaking students.

In addition, in the event that a restricted access study programme is almost full, the Minister wishes to be able to limit the number of students coming from outside Europe (EEA). This means that both Dutch and European students will still be able to access those programmes. This ‘emergency capacity limit’ should help to cope with any large and unexpected rise in the number of students from outside Europe.

Promoting Dutch language skills

Mr Dijkgraaf also wants universities and colleges to promote Dutch language skills among all students, including those from other countries. A better command of Dutch will improve their chances on the labour market, and also improve the chance that students from abroad will want to (and will be able to) stay in the Netherlands after completing their studies.

The Minister will elaborate on these language measures in a new bill. The principle is that education is provided in Dutch: this remains unchanged. Dutch is and will remain the primary language, with acceptable exceptions to this being defined better. This will make it possible to oversee those exceptions. Given the urgent need for action, the Minister will begin drafting the new bill immediately, and it could come into effect in September 2024 at the earliest. The plan would then be to withdraw the Language and Accessibility Bill (WTT), which was postponed last year. The Minister will discuss the letter with the House of Representatives before the summer.

Better information regarding accommodation

Finally, the Minister wishes to make further administrative agreements with universities and colleges before next summer – agreements that could help improve the management of the number of international students coming to the Netherlands. This includes implementing agreements on targeted recruitment: for example, institutions should only actively recruit abroad for programmes that focus on (shortages in) the regional labour market. An appeal for restraint in recruitment practices was already issued in December. The Minister also wishes more international students to be actively steered towards the Dutch labour market, institutions to adopt Dutch as the primary administrative language (with a policy of bilingualism if necessary) and for students to be provided with better information regarding accommodation.

Source: Government of the Netherlands

News item | 21-04-2022 | 15:56

Besides in the reception facilities arranged by the government, thousands of people are staying with friends, family or private hosts, or in hotels.

The Netherlands stands ready to assist refugees from Ukraine in the Netherlands. To this end the Ministerial Crisis Management Committee (MCCb) made the following decisions today.

Education

Municipalities will receive funding to arrange transport for school-aged Ukrainian children who do not live near a school. Schools with experience of teaching Ukrainian pupils will receive extra funding to assist other schools. The government is also drafting a bill that will make it easier for school boards and municipalities to set up temporary educational facilities, including in regions where this is more difficult to organise. Temporary schools are needed when the regular schools in a region are no longer able to take in new pupils.

Organising access to healthcare

Refugees from Ukraine have a different status from other refugees. This also means they cannot access healthcare under the medical care scheme for asylum seekers (RMA), nor can they take out Dutch health insurance (unless they get a job in the Netherlands). The State Secretary for Justice and Security has therefore been tasked with organising access to medical care and long-term care for Ukrainian refugees. This is similar to his responsibility for regular asylum seekers.

The Ministry of Justice and Security, supported by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, is working with health insurers to draw up an implementation agreement, similar to the contract that covers asylum seekers. In principle, it will be modelled as much as possible on the existing systems, contracts and cover from the RMA. In the interim, care providers can apply to the grant scheme for essential medical care for uninsured persons (SOV). Reducing the administrative burden for care providers is being tackled with priority, and the government has already taken the first steps to this end.

Source: Government of the Netherlands

News item | 09-07-2021 | 14:00

Items voluntarily returned by owner

In its request for the items’ return, the Peruvian government noted that the objects came from archaeological locations or excavations not authorised by the Peruvian authorities. After the Inspectorate was notified about several objects being offered to an auction house, it began an investigation which revealed that the objects had been acquired in the 1970s by the father of the current owner. Following Peru’s request and the Inspectorate’s investigation, the owner voluntarily handed over the objects so that they can once again be part of the country’s cultural heritage collection. During the handover ceremony, the Peruvian authorities expressed their appreciation for the return of these cultural objects, which will be publicly exhibited once they are back in Peru.

Pottery and textiles

The collection of objects being returned to Peru contains a diverse range of cultural objects. The 28 objects come from various pre-Columbian cultures, such as the Chimú, Chancay, Moche, Wari and Vicús, and date from between 200 BCE to 1,500 CE. The collection consists mainly of pottery pieces, including decorative jugs and figurines in the form of humans and animals. A number of colourful decorative textile fragments were also returned, as well as a collection of seeds.

Peruvian cultural heritage

Peru has an extraordinarily rich cultural heritage. One famous example is Machu Picchu, an Incan city that was never discovered by the Spanish, and has thus been preserved in its original state. Machu Picchu is now the largest tourist and archaeological attraction in Peru. The ruins are situated on a 2,500 metre-high mountain ridge, above the valley of a sacred river. Many cultural objects from this and other pre-Columbian cultures were plundered and illegally exported for sale. To protect this valuable heritage the International Council of Museums drew up a list of cultural heritage from Peru that may not be traded.

1970 UNESCO Convention

The return of this collection to Peru was carried out in the spirit of the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. The Netherlands has been a party to this convention since 17 October 2009. Under its provisions the State Parties must offer each other assistance when illegally exported cultural property is discovered, and must take appropriate steps to return such cultural property. In this case the Inspectorate investigated the origin of the items concerned and supervised the subsequent voluntary return process.

Source: Government of the Netherlands

News item | 25-06-2021 | 17:43

This policy enables the return of items of cultural value to the original owners or their heirs, specifically those looted, stolen, confiscated, sold under duress or otherwise expropriated involuntarily prior to and during the Second World War.

“We must continue our efforts to return items lost involuntarily or acquired illegally around the time of the Second World War to the right people,” says Van Engelshoven. “We will achieve this through systematic research and better communication. And when we really don’t know who the owner is, I am happy to say that we will then look at how we can return art looted from Jewish owners to the Jewish community. This is an important step forward in our thinking around restitution policy.”

Systematic provenance research

Systematic provenance research is to be resumed. This means that the provenance of all works still in the so-called Netherlands Art Property Collection (NK Collection) of cultural items returned to the Dutch state after the war will be re-examined. This effort will determine whether there are any new clues as to their provenance or original ownership. The aim is to return the items to the original owners or their heirs. As custodian of the NK Collection, the Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE) will carry out this research and will also actively approach possible rightful owners. In so doing, it will build upon the extensive provenance research previously undertaken by the Origins Unknown Agency. The RCE’s work is intended to complement the research that is already conducted by the Expertise Centre for the Restitution of Items of Cultural Value and the Second World War at the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies.

Better communication

With a new helpdesk and better access to all available information, Van Engelshoven also wants to make it easier to submit an application for restitution. Good and active communication about the policy and works which may have been looted will contribute towards this goal. As of 2022, the RCE will therefore be expanding its heritage helpdesk function to include information and advice on restitution. As well as people with questions about restitution applications, collection managers seeking advice about the relevant procedures will be able to contact the helpdesk.

In addition, access to the available information about possible looted art is being centralized. From now on, full details of the NK Collection can be found on the National Collection website at wo2.collectienederland.nl. This portal is to be further expanded and improved over the coming years.

Transfer of heirless art

If the original owners or heirs cannot be found, items of cultural value looted from Jewish owners and now in the possession of the State will be returned to the Jewish community. This is another basic principle of the strengthened restitution policy. The key requirement is that provenance research must first be carried out in order to determine whether an item belongs to anyone. But if the original owner or their heirs cannot be found, then arrangements will be made in consultation with the Jewish community to transfer this heirless art to a Jewish heritage institution. By taking this step, the minister is acting in accordance with the spirit and the substance of the 1998 Washington Principles, Article 9 of which states that a “just and fair” solution should be found for heirless art.

Source: Government of the Netherlands

News item | 09-06-2021 | 11:00

The funerary vase was purchased by the museum in 1988 as an addition to the national collection. The Italian authorities recently submitted a request for its return, having established that the vase was illegally excavated in Italy and was unlawfully removed from the country.

Scylla askos

The funerary vase, known as a Scylla askos, is made of earthenware. It originates from Canosa, Southern Italy, and dates to around 400-300 BC. The vase depicts the nymph Scylla and is decorated with dogs, a woman and child, Amazons, and the head of a duck. These types of vases were used in funeral rituals and then placed with the deceased in the grave.

Voluntary return

The State of the Netherlands is voluntarily handing the vase over to the Italian authorities, in response to their request that it be returned. The Italian authorities have convincingly demonstrated that the item left Italy unlawfully. The return of the vase to Italy is in the spirit of the ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums, which states that museums should engage in dialogue on matters related to return and restitution. The procedure for disposal from the Dutch national collection laid down in the Heritage Act (Erfgoedwet) has been followed. The return is also in line with European and international legislation, such as the Directive on returning cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of another EU country.

Source: Government of the Netherlands

News item | 06-05-2021 | 14:30

The foundation cones, a clay tablet and two rare figurines are all Mesopotamian. An investigation by the Information and Heritage Inspectorate and an expert from the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities confirmed that the objects came from Iraq. The Iraqi government contributed to this investigation and requested the Dutch government to return the objects. The private collector who gave up the items was not aware of their exact origin, and now wants to see them given back to Iraq. All the objects are protected under Iraqi cultural heritage legislation, and all are listed on the International Council of Museums’ red lists. These lists give examples of objects that are vulnerable to theft, plundering and illegal export from their countries of origin.

Foundation cones and Halaf figurine

Foundation cones are large clay cones that were placed in the walls of buildings or buried in the foundations of temples. They were inscribed with texts in cuneiform script, one of the world’s earliest writing systems. This means that they are of cultural and historical significance. The same can be said for the clay tablet. The two figurines are considerably older, and also rarer. One of them is a Halaf figurine representing the mother goddess, a symbol of fertility, and was used in sacrifice rituals. The other is a figurine of a ram and was used as an amulet or a stamp or seal.

Mesopotamian culture

Mesopotamia was the cradle of modern civilisation. This is what makes Iraq’s cultural heritage so important for the entire world. Civilisation in the region dates back to 6000 BC and produced a wide range of cultural expressions. Remnants of this rich culture have found their way to every part of the world. This is partly due to the conflicts that have ravaged Iraq and the wider region since 1990. During these wars, museums, libraries and excavations have been plundered or destroyed. Many objects of cultural heritage have been smuggled out of the country and, through various routes, have found their way onto the black market.

Ban on trade in Iraqi heritage

The United Nations Security Council has adopted a system of sanctions to protect Iraq’s cultural heritage, and these have been implemented in European law. They prohibit trade in objects of archaeological, historical, cultural, rare scientific and religious importance that Iraq has designated as protected. 

The Information and Heritage Inspectorate is one of the agencies that is monitoring compliance with the national sanction measures and works closely with the customs authorities, the police, the Public Prosecution Service, experts and international organisations. More information about the protection of cultural heritage can be found on the Inspectorate’s website. The Minister of Foreign Affairs adopts the sanction measures in consultation with other ministers and coordinates implementation of these measures. The return of these seven objects is taking place under the Iraq Sanctions Order 2004 II.

Source: Government of the Netherlands

News item | 29-01-2021 | 15:07

The Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Ingrid van Engelshoven:

“The colonial past is a subject that still personally affects many people every day. This is why we must treat colonial collections with great sensitivity. I believe it important that colonial collections should be accessible and that they tell their stories from a variety of perspectives. This could mean a painful confrontation with the injustices in our past, the effects of which are in some cases still felt every day. There is no place in the Dutch State Collection for cultural heritage objects that were acquired through theft. If a country wants them back, we will give them back.”

Independent assessment committee

To ensure that colonial heritage objects are treated with care and sensitivity, it is essential that requests for their return are assessed independently, expertly and transparently. An independent assessment committee will therefore be appointed to advise on the matter. The committee will assess whether investigations into provenance provide sufficient evidence to establish if the objects in question were acquired through involuntary loss of possession.

Policy on returning objects

This policy concerns requests for the return of cultural heritage objects that are in the possession of the State; such requests must come from a nation state. Such objects in the possession of the State that are to be returned will be transferred to the relevant nation state.

Three categories of cultural heritage objects are eligible for return to their country of origin. If it can be established that an object was indeed stolen from a former Dutch colony, it will be returned unconditionally. Cultural heritage objects that were stolen from a former colony of another country, or which are of particular cultural, historic or religious significance to a country, may also be eligible for return. In such cases, the assessment committee will weigh the interests of the various parties. This will include such aspects as the cultural significance of the objects to the country of origin, the relevant communities in the countries of origin and in the Netherlands, the significance for the Dutch collection, the conditions in which the items are to be stored, and public accessibility to the objects.

Collaborating with countries of origin

Any action aimed at redressing these injustices can only be taken in partnership and dialogue with the former colonies. The government is exploring further opportunities for exchanging knowledge and joint research into colonial collections with Indonesia, Suriname and the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom. During these discussions, the Netherlands will be committed to ensuring accessibility to the objects, and that they are managed in a sustainable manner. Dutch museums and the public at large also stand to benefit from the sharing of history and knowledge about the collections and colonial history.