Encyclopedia of Human Rights
Edited by: David P. Forsythe
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Print Publication Date: 2009
Print ISBN-13: 9780195334029
Published online: 2009
Current Online Version: 2009
eISBN: 9780195336887
Max Van Der Stoel
Max Van der Stoel, a member of the Labor Party, has developed a reputation as a fighter for human rights, both as a
member of parliament in the Netherlands and as foreign minister. He has also been very active internationally, both in the
context of the United Nations and at the regional level in Europe.
He was born in Voorschoten, the Netherlands, on 3 August 1924. He received a law degree at Leyden University (1947)
and a second law degree with sociology as a major subject (1953). He worked as a staff member at the Wiardi Beckman
Stichting, the research center of the Dutch Labor Party (1953–1958), and served as international secretary of the Labor
Party (1963–1965). He was a member of the Upper House of Parliament (1960–1963) and of the Lower House of
Parliament (1963–1965, 1966–1973, and 1977–1981). He was state secretary of foreign affairs (1965–1966) and minister
of foreign affairs (1973–1977 and 1981–1982). He served as permanent representative of the Netherlands to the United
Nations (1983–1986) and was a member (1986–1992) of the Council of State—the highest advisory body to the Dutch
government and supreme administrative court. In 1991, he was appointed minister of state—an honorary position given to
a small number of experienced politicians who may be consulted by the cabinet or the queen on difficult political problems.
Van der Stoel has also served in a number of important international positions. He was a member of the Council of Europe
Consultative Assembly and the Assembly of the West European Union (1967–1972) and rapporteur on Greece of the
Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe (1968–1970); member of the European Parliament (1971–1973); and
member of the North Atlantic Assembly (1968–1973 and 1978–1981). He served as special rapporteur on Iraq of the
United Nations Commission on Human Rights (1992–1999) and as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe's high commissioner on national minorities (1993–2001). Most recently, he has served as special adviser to the
coordinator on foreign policy of the European Union, Javier Solana, on Macedonia.
The Place of Human Rights in International Relations
While his commitment to human rights is beyond question, Max Van der Stoel is well aware that human rights cannot
under all circumstances prevail, but that the maintenance of international peace and security must be given priority:
There are … situations in which human rights policy, in my opinion, should not be given absolute priority. Would it, for
example, be correct policy on the eve of an important breakthrough in arms control negotiations, to risk reaching agreement by
putting forward the condition that first certain specific human rights violations should be ended? I do not think so: the interest of
peace and security should prevail. (“De Rechten van de Mens in de Oost-West Betrekkingen,” [1981], p. 79; translated from the
original Dutch)
However, on the whole, he believes that the promotion of human rights has contributed to the establishment of détente
between the East and the West.
Portugal and Greece
As a member of parliament, Van der Stoel strongly opposed the Salazar dictatorship in Portugal and the colonels’ regime in
Greece—both were members of NATO and, as such, political and military allies of the Netherlands—though he did not
share the views of some younger members of the Labor Party that the Netherlands should leave NATO if no political
change occurred in Portugal and Greece. As a rapporteur for the Council of Europe, Van der Stoel exposed torture practices
by the military regime in Greece. In 1967, this led to a state complaint in the Council of Europe by Denmark, Norway,
Sweden, and the Netherlands against Greece, which eventually caused the withdrawal of Greece from the Council of
Europe. After the fall of the colonels’ regime in 1974, Van der Stoel received a hero's welcome in Athens, Greece, where a
public square was named after him.
Central and Eastern Europe
Van der Stoel's political views on the importance of human rights have been influenced by his principled rejection of all
forms of fascism and National Socialism, which he experienced during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World
War II. In addition, he strongly rejected Communist dictatorship in Eastern and Central Europe during the Cold War,
beginning with the Communist takeover in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1948. He had visited that country in 1947 and
became impressed by the existing fear of Communism. He has always remained a strong anti-Communist.
He was in favor of the Helsinki agreements concluded in 1975, which confirmed the East-West division in Europe. At the
same time, it opened possibilities for the right to self-determination for the peoples of Europe. He supported dissident
groups in the Soviet Union and in the “satellite countries,” where dissident groups began to use the Helsinki texts to call
their own governments to account for their violations of human rights. Well-known is his furtherance of the activities of
“Charta 77” in Czechoslovakia. Western representatives met with dissidents and often helped to protect their position,
though it also entailed certain risks for them. During a visit in 1977, Van der Stoel met briefly with one of the dissident
leaders, Jan Patocka, who died soon after, following his interrogation by the authorities. The Czechoslovak authorities
launched a campaign of slander against Van der Stoel, whom they pictured as an instrument of the Cold War, the United
States military-industrial complex, and the CIA. This event plus Van der Stoel's continued criticism of human rights
violations in such countries as the Soviet Union and Poland helped to confirm his reputation as a champion for the cause of
human rights, even before he became minister of foreign affairs.
Apartheid in South Africa
Van der Stoel has always fought apartheid in South Africa as one of the few legally based violations of fundamental human
rights. While minister of foreign affairs he continued the policy of his predecessors by condemning apartheid as a matter of
principle, but he shied away from more radical measures, such as ending all forms of cooperation, including economic
ones, with South Africa. However, he succeeded in having the UN Security Council adopt a voluntary embargo on the
import of arms from South Africa in 1984. This expression of international solidarity may have damaged the South African
economy and helped to put pressure on the South African government to end apartheid. Van der Stoel also suspended and
finally ended the Dutch–South African bilateral treaty of cultural cooperation.
Iraq
From 1992 until 1999, Van der Stoel served as special rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights on Iraq. He
received only one opportunity to visit Iraq (3–9 January 1992), where he met with six government ministers, although his
request to meet with President Saddam Hussein and the minister of defense went unanswered. All subsequent requests for
visits to the country remained unanswered. Therefore, all of his reports were based on general reports and specific
allegations of violations of human rights with a focus on obtaining corroborative evidence in the form of testimony,
documentary evidence, and/or physical evidence. In his reports, Van der Stoel referred to violations of human rights
affecting the population in general, including summary and arbitrary executions, torture and other inhuman or degrading
treatment, arbitrary arrests and detentions, lack of freedom of association and expression, and lack of food and health care,
plus violations affecting ethnic and religious communities such as the Kurds and the Shia.
In all of his reports, Van der Stoel was very critical of the human rights violations that were ordered or authorized by the
Iraqi government. He reported that the regime of Saddam Hussein, which in a TV interview he called the worst violator of
human rights since World War II, was responsible for the execution of thousands of Shiite opponents, and the detention of
many others in camps. Tens of thousands had disappeared after their arrests. The Iraqi government reacted in an
increasingly hostile way to Van der Stoel, accusing him of bias and of being paid by hostile foreign interests. According to
the Iraqi government journal, Van der Stoel was “known for his hostility against Iraq”—an accusation he strongly rejected.
OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities
At the follow-up conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Helsinki in 1992, a
Dutch proposal was adopted to establish a high commissioner on national minorities. Van der Stoel was appointed as the
first person to occupy this position. He carried out his activities beyond the glare of publicity, using the technique of “quiet
diplomacy.” He has always refused to give a strict definition of the term “national minority,” claiming that he “would know
a minority when he saw one.” Within the framework of conflict prevention he concentrated on “early warnings,” and,
where necessary, “early actions,” whenever the position of a national minority in Europe led to tensions. This meant a dual
task: on the one hand, he must try to contain such tensions, if they fell within his mandate; on the other hand, he must warn
the OSCE if tensions increased to such a point that he was no longer able to contain them. Van der Stoel succeeded in
containing a number of potential conflicts in Central and Eastern Europe. He paid special attention to Macedonia to help
solve tensions between ethnic Albanians and the native Macedonian population. He continued this interest after his
resignation as high commissioner. An Albanian-language university was established in 2000 in Tetovo, Macedonia, and
was named after him by the local people.
He was sometimes criticized for his lack of attention to actual or potential conflicts in Western Europe. However, his
mandate precluded him from dealing with “terrorist movements” such as the ETA in Spain or the IRA in Northern Ireland.
It is not easy to determine the precise effect of his activities for the simple reason that the success of his efforts lay in
developments not happening if he acted. However, the general impression is that he was indeed effective, and for that
reason he received a great deal of overall appreciation.
Jorge Zorreguieta
Almost at the end of his career, in 2001, Van der Stoel acceded to a request by the Dutch government and was asked to
prevail upon Jorge Zorreguieta, the father of Maxima, the Argentinean bride-to-be of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, not
to attend his daughter's wedding. Zorreguieta had been junior minister of agriculture during the military junta in Argentina
(1976–1983). As such, he was seen by many as at least indirectly responsible for the manifold violations of human rights
committed during the junta. In the Netherlands, a political uproar occurred, as parliamentary approval was needed for the
crown prince's wedding. With the help of Princess Maxima, Van der Stoel succeeded in persuading the father not to attend
his daughter's wedding and thus helped to prevent a potential constitutional crisis in the Netherlands from occurring.
Contribution
Van der Stoel's commitment to the cause of human rights remains unquestioned. Few Western politicians have for so long
and consistently stressed human rights as a principle of foreign policy. Though with a clear emphasis on Communist
Eastern Europe, Van der Stoel has always also condemned human rights violations by regimes of the right, such as military
dictatorships in Latin America (Pinochet in Chile) and other countries in the third world.
Often he preferred a policy of “quiet diplomacy” as being most effective, though on occasion, as in the cited case of
Czechoslovakia, he did not hesitate to express his views quite openly. That brought him into conflict with the offending
regimes, which did not take lightly what they saw as an intrusion into their domestic affairs.
As a UN special rapporteur, Van der Stoel was highly critical of human rights violations by the regime of Saddam Hussein
in Iraq, after he had visited that country in 1992. That was the last time that he was ever invited to visit that country.
Thereafter, he had to rely on outside evidence, which limited his opportunities for gaining information. However, a more
“diplomatic” or careful style of reporting would have damaged his freedom of expression—an approach he clearly rejected.
His most effective approach to the struggle for human rights may have been the period when he was OSCE high
commissioner on ethnic minorities. In that position he was able to combine his principled views on human rights with a
careful and confidential way of approaching governments. Though the final verdict on that episode must wait until all
relevant documents become publicly available, the overall provisional conclusion is positive.
What Van der Stoel has had to say about the importance of protecting minorities may be representative for his approach to
human rights as whole:
Intolerance, racial hatred and xenophobia are almost as old as Europe itself. Nevertheless, these are not natural phenomena with
which we just have to live. The expulsion of these phenomena should be a concern of all of us, because tolerance and openness
towards others are essential conditions for a democratic society, in particular now that the borders in Europe are fading away and
the future of us all lies in global cooperation. (“Harmonieuze Relatie tussen Minderheden en Meerderheid Beste Garantie voor
Stabiliteit in Europa”; translated from the original Dutch)
[See also Chile in the Pinochet Era; Helsinki Accord and CSCE/OSCE; Iraq under Saddam; Minority Rights; and
South Africa.]
Bibliography
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by Peter R. Baehr
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