The Netherlands Helsinki Committee has been added to the list of “undesirable organisations”

The Ministry of Justice has added the Netherlands Helsinki Committee to the list of “undesirable organisations,” according to an updated list on the ministry’s website.

It states that the Prosecutor General’s Office had designated the organisation as “undesirable” back on 1 August, but this decision had not been previously announced.

The Netherlands Helsinki Committee is a non-governmental organisation founded in 1987. Its name refers to the 1975 Helsinki Accords, which obligated participating states to respect fundamental human rights and freedoms.

The Committee promotes human rights across European and Central Asian countries and monitors their observance. In certain countries, the organisation runs, for example, programmes for the development of humane judicial and penitentiary systems, support for minorities, and ensuring access to justice for those who have suffered discrimination. The organisation also offers training programmes for civil servants and human rights defenders.

In 2022, the Netherlands Helsinki Committee was one of the human rights organisations calling to suspend Russia’s membership in the UN Human Rights Council due to the invasion of Ukraine, as well as to establish a mandate for a UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Russia. In 2023, the committee condemned the liquidation of the Moscow Helsinki Group and demanded the Russian authorities stop persecuting human rights defenders.

At the end of June, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee was also declared “undesirable.”