The highest Eritrean diplomat must leave the Netherlands
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Zijlstra about Eritrean diplomat: strong signal
The Netherlands publishes the highest diplomatic representative of Eritrea. Temporary case attorney Tekeste Ghebremedhin Zemuy of the embassy office in The Hague has been declared persona non grata.
This is a "highly exceptional measure", which is taken because the Eritrean authorities continue to force former compatriots in the Netherlands to pay tax.
Minister Zijlstra writes in a letter to the Lower House that the government wants to give the measure "a powerful diplomatic signal" that it is not served by the collection of the so-called diaspora tax, where "intimidation and coercion" take place.
Eritrea has no embassy in the Netherlands, but an embassy office. The Cabinet does not intend to close that office, as the Court had requested. Zijlstra fears that by closing the post relations with Eritrea would be so damaged that good representation of Eritreans in the Netherlands would suffer.
'Undesirable practices'
The reason for the measure is a broadcast of the radio program Argos on 23 December. It told how an Eritrean asylum seeker was forced by the head of the embassy office to pay taxes and to express regret for his flight.
After the broadcast, the ambassador of Eritrea, who is based in Brussels, is called by Foreign Affairs. According to Zijlstra it emerged from the conversation that there is "no understanding of the great Dutch political and social resistance to undesirable practices" from the Eritrean side.
Minister Zijlstra wants top diplomat Eritrea to leave the Netherlands directly
Photo: ANP
Published: January 17, 2018 15:18
Last update: January 17, 2018 17:41
The highest diplomatic representative of Eritrea in the Netherlands has to leave the country. Temporary case attorney Tekeste Ghebremedhin Zemuy of the embassy office in The Hague has been declared persona non grata.
Such a measure is highly exceptional.
A large parliament majority had asked the Dutch government to completely close down the Eritrean representation in The Hague. This is because the Eritrean authorities continue to force former compatriots in the Netherlands to pay a so-called diaspora tax.
The undesirability of the high diplomat is a heavy measure. Minister Halbe Zijlstra of Foreign Affairs calls it a "strong diplomatic signal" in a letter to the House of Representatives. Eritrea does not have a real embassy in the Netherlands, but an office that is not closed. The embassy is in Brussels.
Undesirable practices
The radio program Argos recently quoted from a secretly recorded conversation with the head of the embassy office. In it, an Eritrean asylum seeker is forced to pay the diaspora tax and to express his regret for having fled from the African country. Otherwise he will not get the necessary government document.
After the broadcast, the ambassador of Eritrea was called on 28 December at Foreign Affairs. Then again the "great worries" about the charge were transferred. The discussion showed that Eritrea is not prepared to stop these "undesirable practices". Then it was decided to declare the temporary agent to persona non grata.
The Eritrean ambassador was again summoned to the ministry on Tuesday 16 January to receive the decision.
Diaspora tax
There is no evidence that criminal offenses were committed at the embassy office. The government has been trying to put an end to the tax for years. Eritrean diplomats have already been summoned for this purpose. Eritrea has been imposing a tax on its citizens in the Diaspora since 1994. That is not illegal. But according to the UN, the levy often happens with intimidation and coercion.
The embassy office will remain open because otherwise the job would be damaged in such a way that "adequate representation of interests, for example in the area of migration, human rights and consular affairs and missions, becomes virtually impossible", according to Zijlstra. This would also be a lot of practical hindrance for the more than 20,000 people in Eritrean society in our country.
Satisfied
Government parties D66 and VVD are satisfied with the decision to dismiss the highest Eritrean diplomat in the Netherlands.
Member of Parliament Sjoerd Sjoerdsma of D66: '' I am pleased that Zijlstra is finally acting as a minister. With the sending away of the ambassador he gives a strong signal: the extortion practices must stop. A logical intermediate step, but if this practice does not stop, further steps must remain on the table. ''
VVD MP Malik Azmani says he is happy with the '' firm '' signal. '' A good first step, we do not tolerate the long arm of Eritrea in our country. ''
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