Rita Verdonk
Drs. Maria Cornelia Frederika "Rita" Verdonk (born October 18, 1955) serves as Minister without Portfolio for Integration and Immigration in the of current Dutch government. Verdonk is a member of the liberal VVD. She is one of the candidates in the current 2006 VVD leadership election. She has been voted the most popular member of the Dutch government.
Career before politics
Born in Utrecht, Verdonk attended the atheneum at the Niels Stensencollege (also in Utrecht). She then studied sociology, specializing in sociology of organisations and criminology. After graduating in 1983, she became trainee at the department of correction at the Ministry of Justice. In 1984, she became assistant-director at the Scheveningen House of Detention. In 1988, she became member of the board of the Prison 'De Schie' in Rotterdam. In 1992, she switched to the Ministry of Justice's department of Youth and Hospital Orders Institutions, where she reached the position of vice-director. In 1996, she became director of the department of State Security of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Between 1999 and 2003 she was senior manager/director of the influential consulting firm KPMG (later Atos/KPMG-Consulting).
Political career
In 2003, Verdonk became Minister for Integration and Immigration. She has developed a reputation as a hardliner on immigration issues. She is one of the boldest ministers, applauded by many as a strong leader but criticized by others for hard and uncompromising policies.
On April 4, 2006, Verdonk announced her ambition to become lijstrekker for the next elections, and political leader of the VVD. Other candidates in the leadership election are the left-liberal staatssecretaris of Education Mark Rutte and the backbencher Jelleke Veenendaal. Although her political views on subjects other then immigration and integration are still unclear she a likely candidate. Shortly after announcing she would be candidate RTL-news reported that 56% of the people would like to see her as the leader of the VVD. Rita Verdonk is advised by Kay van der Linden, who also played a part in Pim Fortuyn's 2002 election campaign.
On May 16, 2006, Verdonk has been criticized by prominent members of her own political party, the VVD, MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Gerrit Zalm, deputy prime minister. Verdonk declared that because Hirsi Ali lied about her past in the naturalization process, her Dutch citizenship is invalid. VVD-deputy prime minister Zalm said he was surprised that events known for years suddenly resulted in action by Verdonk two days after a television broadcast about the past of Hirsi Ali. He said Verdonk has disqualified herself from being lijsttrekker for the VVD in the coming elections [1]. In a session in parliament Verdonk stated that she had no choice in this matter because Hirsi Ali's passport was issued with an incorrect name and incorrect date of birth. Some members of parliament suggested that Verdonk's stern actions were a result of her political ambitions in the 2006 VVD leadership elections. However, Hirsi Ali reportedly admitted to Verdonk that she agreed the Minister had no other choice. [2].
Policy
Verdonk has proposed the following plans:
- In order to reduce migration through marriage, she has proposed that partners of Dutch citizens are only allowed to immigrate into the Netherlands if the Dutch partner earns more than 130% of the minimum income.
- She refused to grant pardon to around 26,000 asylum seekers who lived in the Netherlands for over 5 years but who were not be granted asylum.
- To integrate migrants into the Dutch society, every person who wants to immigrate into the Netherlands must have passed an integration test. It tests knowledge of the Dutch language, political system and social conventions. The test must be taken before entering the Netherlands, preferably in a Dutch Embassy in the country of origin. "Oudkomers", migrants who have lived in the Netherlands for a long time, but are not "integrated", are also requested to take the exam. EU nationals, and nationals of various other western nations such as the US, are exempt from these policies.
She was called to parliament for the following issues:
- In October 2005, the Immigration & Naturalisation Services provided information to refugees home-countries about asylum requests. This risked that when refugees were denied and send back to their homecountry (in this case Congo) they could possibly be tortured by their government, but no proof of this was provided by any party. Verdonk maintains that no sensitive information was transferred [3] in accordance with the findings of a special committee (Commissie Havermans) [4]
.
- In December 2005, a cell-complex for denied refugees at Amsterdam airport burned down. Eleven refugees died, and surviving refugees reported that they had to wait more than 45 minutes before being released from their cell. In The Netherlands, prisons fall under the responsibility of the Department of Domestic Affairs and Verdonk was wrongly critized because of this event.
As a minister, Verdonk has proposed the following, without it becoming policy yet:
- In October 2005, Verdonk proposed a ban on Muslim women wearing the burqa in public places, on the grounds that the burqa, which covers the face, is a security risk since suicide bombers could use it as a disguise. She also cancelled a meeting with Dutch Muslim leaders when some of them would not shake hands with her, because she is a woman. She has said that "the time for cosy tea-drinking" Muslim groups had passed.
- In January 2006, Verdonk proposed the adoption of a national code of conduct, listing the most important conventions of Dutch society, to facilitate the integration of migrants. She was inspired by a similar initiative undertaken by the Rotterdam municipality.
- Upon receiving Dutch citizenship, immigrants would have to be able to sing the first stanza of the national anthem, the Wilhelmus.
- In March 2006, Verdonk proposed to send homosexual asylum seekers from Iran back because they are no longer prosecuted, despite the general public conception that acts of homosexuality were still punishable by death. Note that homosexuality in itself is not punishable by death sentence in Iran [5]
. In response to parliamentary criticism, the Minister announced on March 4 that all asylum cases involving homosexual Iranians would be assessed on an individual basis [6] .
Incidents
The political career of Rita Verdonk has been surrounded by incidents. In June 2004 Verdonk was assailed by two women and smeared with ketchup [7] . The women received an 11 day sentence. In September 2005, an assailant spit on Verdonk when she and her family spent a day sightseeing in Amsterdam [8] . On November 4, 2005, the Dutch Forensic Institute was asked to investigate a window in the private office of Verdonk in the Ministry of Justice in The Hague. It was suspected that the building was shot at by unknown assailants from an opposite building. Verdonk was not present at the time of this incident. According to one news source [9] , Verdonk was forced to wear a bulletproof vest at the commemoration of the death of Theo van Gogh (the previous year) because of the incident. On November 5, 2005, the institute reported that it was unlikely that the damage resulted from bullet impact [10] .
Miscellaneous Information
- Verdonk is called Iron Rita, by people who oppose her policies, referencing Margaret Thatcher's nickname the "Iron Lady".
- Rita Verdonk is also labelled Rode Rita or Red Rita because of her ties with (but not a member of) the left-wing political party Pacifist Socialist Party during the time she studied in Nijmegen in the nineteen seventies. Nijmegen in those days was considered a hotbed of left-political activism. Verdonk was member of a subfaculty board of the university and a member of the activist group Bond voor Wetsovertreders or Union for Lawbreakers (BWO) which had close ties with the PSP and also with the Coornhert Liga. Its 1977 manifest read "to curb and/or prevent material damage and immaterial damage inflicted to individuals or groups in our society by the Dutch legal system". The BWO campaigned for such things as detainee minimum wages, the abolishment of censorship in letters for detainees and the right to unsupervised visits. The group actively visited inmates at a local prison and legally intervened on their behalf. At one occasion Verdonk participated in a non-violent human blockade during the so-called Nijmegen Pierson-rellen in 1981 when plans for demolishment of houses in favor of a parking facility met with violent civil unrest. In a 2006 article some of Verdonks friends and colleagues from her Nijmegen days expressed surprise about Verdonks radical switch in political allegiance after her graduation in 1983 and her about her subsequent carreer. Some declared Verdonk never held outspoken left wing ideals anyway (she was for example always critical of communist regimes), others hypothesized that it was part of a growing-up phase and one (a former treasurer of the BWO) suspected that Verdonk has been a police informer all those years [11].
- Before joining the VVD (circa 2000), Verdonk voted for the social-democratic PvdA [citation needed].
- In January 2006, Verdonk received the Dutch Big Brother Award .
External links
References
- ^ Press conference May 16 2006 by Gerrit Zalm Link
- ^ Nederlandse Omroep Stichting May 16 2006 link
- ^ Press release Ministry of Justice 9 December 2005 Link
- ^ Full Havermans inquiry
- ^ Answers to parliamentary questions at Ministry of Justice 13 March 2006 Link
- ^ Nederlandse Omroep Stichting 4 March 2006 Link
- ^ Telegraaf 3 November 2005 Link
- ^ Telegraaf 27 september 2005 Link
- ^ Nederlandse Omroep Stichting 4 November 2005 Link
- ^ www.nu.nl 5 November 2005 Link
- ^ Rita's rode jaren, (Article) Harm Ede Botje, Sander Donkers, Vrij Nederland 20 mei 2006