To: Office of the Prime Minister
c/o Dutch Parliament
Postbus 20018
2500 EA s'-Gravenhage

Ministry of Justice
Postbus 30127
2500 GC s'-Gravenhage

Appeal for the Grant of Asylum to Prof. Jose Maria Sison and Family

We hereby appeal to the government of the Netherlands to respect and follow the February 1995 and 21 February 1996 decision of the Raad van State on the asylum case of Prof. Jose Maria Sison and family. The decision lays down the following points:

1. Prof. Sison is a political refugee with a well-grounded fear of persecution in the sense of the Refugee Treaty of Geneva.

2. He cannot be sent back to the Philippines and is entitled to protection under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

We protest the 04 June 1996 negative decision of the Dutch justice ministry which seeks to violate or circumvent the above decision of the Raad van State. If the justice ministry is allowed to overturn the Raad van State decision, who else can qualify for asylum status in the Netherlands?

The negative decision of the Dutch justice ministry pays lip service to the decision of the Raad van State but repeats the same false accusations and false arguments which the Raad van State has already heard and considered; and denies asylum to Prof. Sison in the Netherlands in particular.

What seems to be the only new argument of the Dutch justice ministry is its own argument that Article 3 of the European Convention does not necessarily mean the grant of asylum. But the justice ministry conveniently forgets that Prof. Sison has already been recognized as a political refugee by the Raad van State. We demand that the Dutch justice ministry cease to obscure the Raad van State decision that Prof. Sison is a political refugee by endlessly repeating false claims and false arguments already considered worthless by the Raad van State.

At this point in time, the Dutch justice ministry must realize that while it continues to slander Prof. Sison, who is already adjudged a political refugee, the high officials of the Manila government which has fed defamatory information against him are publicly offering high positions to him in a futile attempt to lure him back to the Philippines under their terms.

The Dutch justice ministry must also realize that Prof. Sison has been active in the ongoing peace talks between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDF) and the Philippine government. It is ridiculous that while the Dutch foreign ministry hosts these talks, the Dutch justice ministry is trying to undermine the talks by expelling the NDF Chief political consultant who has been fulfilling a crucially important role in the talks. It is a matter of justice that asylum be granted to Prof. Sison in the Netherlands.

It is also a matter of general interest that the Dutch government fulfill its obligations under the Refugee Treaty and the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. This general interest concerning political refugees is even higher than the narrower political and economic interests involved in bilateral relations between the Dutch government and the Philippine government or even with the U.S. government.

It is totally reprehensible for the Dutch justice ministry to convert the asylum procedure from a juridical process to a political process in the case of Prof. Sison. The justice ministry has blocked his asylum request for nearly eight years. It must cease to delay or even try to deprive him of his right to asylum, which has been decided as duly belonging to him by the Raad van State.