The Amnesty Adventure; Amnesty International's Police Group in the Netherlands
| Published date | 01 December 1997 |
| Author | Piet Van Reenen |
| Date | 01 December 1997 |
| DOI | 10.1177/092405199701500404 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The Amnesty Adventure; Amnesty International's Police Group
in the Netherlands
Piet van Reenen'
Abstract
The Dutch section
of
Amnesty International has a group
of
police officers working
for
human rights. This group, the professional group
of
police, is one
of
the various
professional groups that
AI
has. As a police group it is unique in the world. In this article,
the history and the activities
of
the group are described and the success-factors indicated.
An attempt is made to answer the question why such a group could develop in the
Netherlands and why efforts to do so elsewhere have mainly failed.
IIntroduction
In September 1992 a group of ten senior Brazilian policemen visited the Netherlands.
They had been invited by the professional group
of
police
of
the Dutch section
of
Amnesty International (AI). The group was accompanied by Brazilian AI members. In the
course
of
their stay, they visited a number
of
police stations and observed the policework.
During visits to the Police Academy, a training institute for crowd control and a police
training school, they were informed about the way the students were being introduced in
human rights and how the concept was used in training for practical work and for crowd
control. In the various discussions with AI and Dutch police officers, the human rights
situation in the Netherlands and Brazil, including the killing
of
streetchildren by police in
Brazil, were a central issue. The results of the study tour were used to introduce and
improve human rights training in police academies in Brazil, in which the Brazilian
section
of
Amnesty International played an important role.
The Dutch section
of
AI has a group
of
professional police working for AI when they
are
off
duty. This group, established in 1986, consists
of
policemen and -women
of
all
ranks. All are members
of
AI. It has remained unique until now. Despite several efforts
in no other country where AI has membership a similar specialised group
of
professional
volunteers (police) has been formed.' In this article the history and the work
of
the Dutch
group shall be described and the factors that contributed to the successful establishment
of
the group identified.
The uniqueness
of
the group raises another and more fundamental question: how can
the emergence and existence
of
such a group be explained? To what extent and in what
relevant areas are Dutch society and Dutch police different from other countries and police
Professor for the Study of Causes
of
Human Rights Violations, Utrecht University and
Chief
Inspector for
Law Enforcement, Ministry of Justice, The Hague, the Netherlands.
The author has been involved in efforts to start police groups in the Amnesty International sections
of
Nordic
countries. in England and in Germany and to promote the idea of these groups in other AI sections as well.
In vain. Within the British and German sections AI members who are policemen or -women gather every
now and then since a few years. They are however not engaged in common activities deriving from their
profession. The International Secretariat of AI in London has no knowledge
of
the existence
of
a police
professional group within AI other that the Dutch group. AI sections in various countries have groups
of
other professionals like teachers, medical doctors and reporters, working for them.
Netherlands Quarterly
of
Human Rights, Vol. 15/4, 475-493, 1997.
«:i
Netherlands Institute
of
Human Rights (SIM). Printed in the Netherlands. 475
NQHR
4/1997
forces and do these differences provide an explanation for the existence
of
the AI police
group? An answer to that question will be sought in Dutch culture and more specific in
Dutch police culture in the second part
of
this article, taking the research
of
Hofstede on
cultures and their consequences on organisations and on governments as a starting point
for analysis.'
II Human Rights and Police
Hardly anybody is surprised that human rights and police do not go well together. On the
contrary, the fact that AI has a police group is a cause
of
astonishment to people. Two
elements play a key role in the discussion on the relationship between police and human
rights: the definition or philosophy of police work and the relationship between police and
activists.
Police Philosophy
Some people see the relationship between the police and human rights as problematic. The
police are an instrument
of
force of the State. That implies that a repressive Government
will create a police force that is designed for repression, willing to use force and too often
at the same time has a potential for human rights violations. The police in every country
have a potential for repression. Some countries have an impressive history
of
the use
of
this potential. There are countries - many countries - where police officers are torturers
or members
of
death squads. In countries with a police philosophy that allows for human
rights violations, the police and human rights activists are opponents or outright enemies.
There is, however, another side to the police coin. That is, that it also represents a
system that is embedded in law and therefore applies to, and itself is bound to adhere to
legal principles. Legal principles that forbid breaches of human rights and place the police
in a central position to apply human rights and to protect the population against violations
of
human rights. From this point
of
view, the centre of the profession
of
the police is the
application and defense
of
human rights. This application is not only called for by legal
standards but is also reflected in the philosophy of policing of various countries. This
philosophy has different names: policing by consent, people oriented policing or in
German volksnahe Polizei and reflects the view that the police are merely the servants
of
the public, and not primarily State agents.' The basic attitude here is that the police
provide a service
of
protection and help to the population and should, as a rule, render that
service without or with a minimum
of
force. This principle was first formulated in a
coherent way by Sir Robert Peel for the London police in the last century, but it serves
nowadays as a philosophy for many more police forces." The training
of
police officers
in many countries, especially in those where policing is defined as service, contains
basically the same principles as those laid down in human rights and the principles
defended and looked after by human rights organisations like AI. A professional police
officer is expected to live up to these standards. Thus at least in theory, there is no
2G. Hofstede, Culture's Consequences, International DifJerencesin Work Related Values, Beverly Hills, 1980.
3This explanation does in no way imply that a State oriented police by definition have to violate human rights
principles. On the contrary. See also D.C. Bayly, 'The Police and Political Development in Europe', in: C.
Tilly (ed.), The Formation
of
National States in Western Europe, Princeton, 1975, pp. 377 et seq.
4T.A. Critchley, The Conquest
of
Violence, London, 1970, pp. 110-118.
476
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