Gay Rights: Netherlands to teach asylum seekers about LGBT rights - by Janene Pieters

The Ministry of Education is launching an initiative in which all asylum seekers in all asylum centers in the Netherlands will be taught about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. The same information material that is used in schools will also be used for this, Dutch newspaper Trouw reports.

“We must not be naive. Asylum seekers come from countries where women’s rights are not always respected, where gay rights are not a given. We are making it clear that discrimination is not tolerated”, Education Minister Jet Bussemaker said.

According to the Minister, schools have good experiences with the so-called Gay straight alliance method, in which students, teachers and directors provide information about LGBT people and create “a safe atmosphere in which students can be themselves” .

Bussemaker wants this method to also be applied in the asylum centers. “This can be done in various ways: in classrooms, in discussion groups, each center will find an approach that works. We provide educational materials to promote social security, to start the difficult discussion and also to to bring gay asylum seekers in contact with the Dutch LGBT community.”

Bussemaker wants gay interest group COC, which helps schools with LGBT information, to also be involved in providing information to asylum seekers. She is also approaching “Pink in blue, the organization for gay police officers. In the coming weeks the minister will hold a conference with the central agency for the reception of asylum seekers COA, aldermen and the COC, among others, to make arrangements.

This follows a number of incidents of LGBT asylum seekers being harassed in asylum centers, including a gay Iraqi couple being forced to flee the shelter in Apeldoorn after being attacked by fellow residents and reports of routine harassment in the Heumensoord asylum camp in Nijmegen. One gay asylum seeker in the center in Haarlem told Het Parool in December that he is forced to keep his sexual orientation secret in the center for fear of attacks.

Amsterdam decided to to shelter LGBT asylum seekers separately following a number of threats and incidents. The PvdA faction in Rotterdam asked mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb to do the same.

Read more: Netherlands to teach asylum seekers about LGBT rights - NL Times

Political Revolution?: The People Have Woken Up - Political Establishment in Europe And US Is In Trouble - by RM

French revolution 1789 until 1799

When you look at it closely there really is not much difference today between the EU and US when measuring the  public opinion in both areas as to how their ruling political establishment is perceived.

Polls show they both consider them unreliable and "in the pocket" of  private interest groups and lobbyists.

In a way this reaction is also a refreshing development. Slowly but surely in both America and in many countries around Europe people are waking up to the fact that many politicians within their political establishment, on both the left and the right, are not really representing the people who elected them anymore, but rather their own interests.

In fact, most of the polls taken on this issue seem to indicate that many voters now feel that they have been completely sold out by their political elite.

They are also angry about the steady takeover of their liberties by unregulated global corporate forces, and the fact that their elected Governments are doing very little to stop it.

Hence we see the rise of  a new breed of somewhat unorthodox people successfully entering the political arena in the US - like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Same is happening in Europe, with the likes of Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, Marie Le Pen in France, Nigel Farage in Britain, Victor Orban in Hungary, Alexis Tsipras in Greece, and .Pablo Iglesias in Spain, to mention just a few.

Could this be the beginning of a total shake-up and possibly even a peoples revolution changing the existing "fault-lines" of today's political and economic structures in both the USA and the EU ?

It looks like the party has only just begun.

EU-Digest

Refugee Crisis: The EU’s Turkey Connection -Turkey is not living up to the bargain - by Holger Schmieding

Turkey matters. But Europe has to tread carefully as Turkey itself is in a precarious situation. I see a good chance that Europe (specifically Germany) and Turkey can work out a deal that will lead to a slower flow of refugees from Turkey into Greece.

One year ago, almost all eyes were on Russia and its war against Ukraine. Now, Europe’s attention needs to focus more on Turkey.

Almost as in the case of Russia, Europe may not like the government it has to deal with. But it has to deal with it nonetheless.

Last year, Turkey allowed 800,000 refugees to cross into Greece, mostly in the second half of the year. At the same time, the stream of boat people from northern Africa into Spain or Italy, which had made headlines earlier on, played a much smaller role.

This shows that, if transit countries police their sea borders, as Morocco and Mauritania have done in the past two years with some crucial support from Spain, the inflow of refugees can be reduced significantly.

Turkey itself is in a precarious position driven by significant domestic tensions. As a mostly Sunni country, it could become a more frequent target for IS terrorists from next door.

That risk has increased since Turkey seems to have hardened its initially rather permissive stance toward support for IS.

The conflict with the strong Kurdish minority in Turkey’s southeast has flared up badly again. Protests of the urban middle class against the authoritarian tendencies of President Recep Erdogan may easily erupt again as well.

With a current account deficit of 5% of GDP, Turkey’s economy is vulnerable to sudden capital outflows. Serious trouble within Turkey, a country with some 80 million inhabitants, would be a nightmare scenario for Europe.

Read more: Refugee Crisis: The EU’s Turkey Connection - The Globalist

Privacy and Freedom in danger: A Cashless society will destroy freedom and privacy

Big btother is watching

Unfortunately, the time is fast approaching where our current technological snooping capabilities and the ease of  major data manipulation by the Government and the financial Industry will accelerate the arrival of a completely cashless society..  

This will happen in such a way as to permit governments to exercise incredibly powerful controls over all human behavior and activities.

While this may sound like a paranoid doomsday scenario to some, this theory is not only eminently possible, but most of the technology is already available to frighteningly make it a reality.

Technological advances have led to the creation of algorithms that can instantaneously review financial transactions, determining the nature, location and even the appropriateness of a purchase decision. These are already freely used by governments, banks, credit- and debit-card companies amd other financial institutions.

If these current trends continue, a cashless economy could thus very well lead to a complete evaporation of what we consider today as our basic Democracy and Human Rights. 

Imagine a future in which a government employee, who suspect an individual of some misconduct, or perhaps even that person's politics or speech unacceptable, could, with a few keystrokes on the computer, order all financial institutions to decline any withdrawal or payment from that individual, and freeze all other access to funds. 

Perhaps, in order to show a veneer of due process, this would need to be reviewed by a secret Kangaroo court that would approve 99.7 percent of all requests.

The final result is that the  targeted individuals and anyone supporting them could in fact be made to starve to death. 

When it comes to creeping state control in creating a cashless society, it is therefore no surprise to find France out in front. In the wake of last year’s terrorists attacks, the government has clamped down on the use of cash.

In the Netherlands depositing cash more than six times a year, even into your own personal account is penalized with a fee. All this without the Government lifting an eyebrow. 

In reality, cash is far too valuable to be given up lightly. In truth, the benefits of the abolition of cash is largely oversold and certainly not in the Public's favor.

EU-Digest 

Benelux: Insurance Industry: Carpenter Appoints Miller-van der Schild as Managing Director of Benelux Unit

Susanne Miller-van der Schild

Guy Carpenter & Co. has appointed Susanne Miller-van der Schild as managing director, Guy Carpenter Benelux, effective 1 February.

Miller-van der Schild will be responsible for further developing Guy Carpenter’s platform in the region, and in particular strengthening its position in the Dutch market, the company said in a statement.

Based in Rotterdam, and working closely with the firm’s offices in Brussels and London, she will report to Roelant de Haas, CEO, Benelux.

During her 25-year reinsurance career, Miller-van der Schild has held a number of senior managerial positions. Most recently, she was group reinsurance and insurance manager for SNS REAAL, having joined the company in 2006.

 Prior to this, she was a senior relationship manager for Aon Re, responsible for key Dutch clients. She began her industry career at Nationale Borg-Maatschappij in 1990, rising to the position of relationship manager for the firm’s reinsurance department.

Commenting on the appointment, de Haas said: “We are delighted to announce the appointment of Susanne. During her extensive career, she has amassed a wealth of knowledge across the reinsurance sector, spanning in particular the life, non-life and disability markets.

She also brings a deep understanding of all aspects of Solvency II and was involved in the development of numerous capital relief solutions. Highly motivated, innovative in her approach and with wide-ranging market insight, Susanne is a great addition to the Benelux team.”

Nick Frankland, CEO of EMEA Operations at Guy Carpenter, added: “Benelux is a key market for Guy Carpenter and in recent years we have significantly increased our presence across the region. Susanne’s hire will further add to our capabilities in and focus on the Dutch market following the opening of our office in Rotterdam in 2014. Adding her experience and expertise underlines our commitment to the Netherlands client base and significantly reinforces our value offering across the Benelux region.”

Guy Carpenter & Co are a part of the Marsh & McLenna group

Almere-Digest

EU Presidency: The Netherlands: Dutch have a special responsibility meeting Global Goals - by Tamira Gunzburg

The Dutch Presidency of the EU-  01 through 06-2016

In 2015, the world made the biggest ever promise to itself. World leaders adopted the 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development that will help us tackle problems like extreme poverty, hunger and climate change. The deadline they set themselves is the year 2030.

Now, as 2016 gets underway, the question can no longer be postponed. How will we go about implementing these goals, which apply to North and South alike? The only way to hit the ambitious deadline is to start full throttle.

To anyone who has had anything to do with the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, the constraint of limited time and the need to hit the ground running will not be new. Least of all for those who just kicked off their 12th Presidency for the next six months.

But there is another reason why the Dutch would do well to waste no time in charting the path for the Global Goals. Their next Presidency will most probably be around 2030, when the final appraisal will be made on whether or not the world has managed to end extreme poverty and hunger, as our current leaders have set out to do.

In order to ensure that they, and all of us, can shine at that moment, here are a few priorities the Dutch Presidency can act upon right now.

Europe is facing the biggest refugee crisis since World War Two, due to protracted insecurity and destitution in Syria and across parts of Africa and Asia. The influx is projected to continue to rise into 2016. With the political distance between certain European Member States still wide, the Presidency will have to work hard to build a strong EU position that transcends domestic interests. The Dutch government has rightly identified migration and international security as one of the key priorities of their Presidency.

Refugees must be afforded protection and their needs and rights met as a matter of urgency. Yet, several Member States are yielding to the temptation to finance these costs by raiding their aid budgets. Others are even trying to pass off more security, military and intelligence operations as aid. And we are already seeing aid shift away from the poorest countries: in 2014, global aid to the least developed countries fell by 4.6% compared to 2013. That’s a decrease of €1.45 billion to those who need it most.

The Dutch Presidency will need to keep its eye on the prize and ensure that Member States protect refugees without diverting international aid. The EU has already shown that it is possible to do both: its 2016 budget increased funding for both the refugee crisis and development aid simultaneously. This is the kind of leadership the Dutch should take forward.

Of course, it is not all about aid. On average, overseas development aid is a small flow compared to developing countries’ domestic resources. However, these countries still lose at least $1 trillion every year through illicit financial flows, including tax evasion. Stopping this haemorrhage could unleash unprecedented funds for development and reduce pressure on donor countries’ squeezed budgets.

Transparency is key here. Shining a light on the payments between companies and governments and on companies’ tax practices would allow citizens in poor countries to follow the money and ensure their governments spend it responsibly. The EU has already passed ground-breaking legislation to oblige oil and mining companies to publish payments they have made to governments abroad, and transparency in this sector has led to increased social spending in a number of cases. Banks, too, have started reporting their taxes on a country-by-country basis.

The Netherlands was central to passing that legislation back in 2013, and now finds itself chairing the very institution that is scheduled to examine several proposals over the coming months that aim to do the same, but this time for other economic sectors. Obliging large multinationals to confidentially report their tax information per country is already happening. By pushing for the information to be made available to the public, the Presidency can ensure developing countries also benefit.

In a world where the Global Goals will not be met with aid alone, unlocking funds with this win-win legislation is precisely the kind of innovative manoeuvre the Dutch should lead on.

Read more: The Dutch have a special responsibility with the Global Goals | EurActiv

Data Collection: Vestager says EU will eye 'big data' concerns in merger probes

The European Union plans to take a harder look at whether the collection of vast troves of consumer data by big internet companies violates competition rules, competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said on Sunday (17 January).

"If just a few companies control the data you need to satisfy customers and cut costs, then you can give them the power to just drive rivals out of the market," Vestager told a conference of top European and US entrepreneurs and investors.

"If we analyse a merger, if we have a suspicion or concern when it comes to antitrust, if it comes to data, of course we will look at it," she said in a speech at an annual digital innovation conference in Munich. "It may be a competition problem."

Since taking over as Europe's top antitrust enforcer in 2014, Vestager has stepped up investigations into US web giants such as Google and Amazon to decide whether her agency should regulate them more tightly.

Vestager acknowledged that protecting consumer privacy goes beyond her agency's competition remit.

But she put online companies on notice that the vast power they exercise in online marketing and commerce should not make it too difficult for smaller businesses to compete in those areas.

"If a company's use of data is so bad for competition that it outweighs the benefit, then you may have to step in to restore the level playing field," she said of her role.

Read more: Vestager says EU will eye 'big data' concerns in merger probes | EurAct