Partij voor Naastenliefde, Vrijheid en Diversiteit

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Partij voor Naastenliefde, Vrijheid & Diversiteit (Party for Neighborly Love, Freedom, and Diversity) is a Dutch political party. It was officially founded on 31 May, 2006,[1] by Marthijn Uittenbogaard (chairman), Ad van den Berg (treasurer) and Norbert de Jonge (secretary).[2] The party currently has no parliamentary representation and is yet to participate in any election. Its motto is "sapere aude."[3] In October 2006, it became clear that the party did not receive enough signatures to partake in the 2006 elections.[4] The party would have had to raise 570 public declarations of support from Dutch citizens in order to field candidates in parliamentary elections.[5]

Contents

[edit] Platform

According to their official statement, the PNVD's platform aims to maximize diversity and liberty.[3] They propose allowing individuals, from the age of 12, to vote, have sex, gamble, choose their place of residence, and use soft drugs. Hard drugs would be legal at 16. They also intend to eliminate marriage in the law, permit public nudity anywhere in the country, make railway travel free, and institute a comprehensive animal rights platform.[3]

[edit] Sexuality

The PNVD seeks to have the legal age-of-consent lowered to 12, and, in the long run, completely eliminated. (Except in dependent or intrafamilial relationships.) They reason that only "coerced" or "dangerous" sexual activity should be punished. They also aim to equalize the legal age where one can perform in pornography with the legal age-of-consent. Prostitution would be legal at the age of 16. [3]

The PNVD also wants to legalize private use of child pornography (calling outlawing thereof "censorship" in the platform) and allow non-violent pornography to be screened on daytime television. They are against laws that would explicitly outlaw sexual contact between animals and humans (which is not illegal in the Netherlands now[6]), and support laws criminalizing the "sexual maltreatment" of animals.[3]

Also, the party's platform calls for separate imprisonment facilities for sex offenders, arguing that the country would otherwise have indirect torture laws.[3]

[edit] Animal rights

The PNVD ultimately aims to establish a universal treaty guaranteeing all animals basic rights.

In addition, the party plans to heavily restrict animal testing and completely prohibit the consumption of meat and fish: they view the killing of animals for such purposes as murder. Industries currently depending on the sale of animal meat would receive provisional financial support from the government. Hunting and fishing for sport would also be banned.[3]

[edit] Controversy

Multiple positions taken by the PNVD have been controversial, especially those concerning children.[7] In a May 2006 opinion poll, 82% of respondents wanted the Dutch government to stop the party from competing in the elections.[8] The anti-pedophile foundation "Soelaas"[9] petitioned the courts to ban the party, but the judges ruled in the PNVD's favour.[10] "The freedom of expression, the freedom of assembly and the freedom of association ... should be seen as the foundations of the democratic rule of law and the PNVD is also entitled to these freedoms," the court said in a statement.

The party's ties to pedophilia have also drawn much attention: Marthijn Uittenbogaard is the current treasurer of Vereniging MARTIJN,[11] an organization which advocates romantic and sexual relationships between adults and children, and all of its founders have identified as pedophiles.[12][13] In June 2006, Norbert de Jonge was expelled from a pedagogy course at the Radboud University Nijmegen, owing to his involvement with the party and identification as a pedophile.[14][15] He is now seeking legal action against the university.[16]

The treasurer, Ad van den Berg (then 43), was convicted in 1987 for molesting an 11-year old boy. He was fined and given a suspended prison sentence. [17]

[edit] Reference

  1. ^ Naastenliefde, Vrijheid & Diversiteit: Nieuws (official website). "Vandaag, 31 mei, is de partij officieel opgericht." Accessed 31 May 2006. (in Dutch)
  2. ^ "Naastenliefde, Vrijheid & Diversiteit: De mensen" (official website). Accessed 31 May 2006. (in Dutch)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Naastenliefde, Vrijheid & Diversiteit 2006 Programma" (2006 platform; official website). Accessed 31 May 2006. (in Dutch)
  4. ^ "Pedopartij haalt verkiezingen niet", NOS, 2006-10-10.
  5. ^ "Intentieverklaring tekenen ondersteuningsverklaring PNVD," PNVD official website. Accessed 30 July 2006.
  6. ^ "Kamermeerderheid wil wet tegen dierenseks " (Dutch newspaper article). Accessed 19 July 2006. (in Dutch)
  7. ^ Tonny van der Mee and Raymond Vermeulen (2006). "Afschuw over pedopartij," AD, 31 May. Accessed 31 May 2006. (in Dutch)
  8. ^ "Pedophiles to launch political party," Guerrilla News Network / Reuters, 30 May 2006.
  9. ^ "Court refuses to ban Dutch paedophile party," Expatica, 17 July 2006.
  10. ^ "Dutch will allow paedophile group," BBC news, 17 July 2006.
  11. ^ Tonny van der Mee and Dafna Holtzer (2006). "Pedofielen de politiek in," AD, 30 May. Accessed 31 May 2006. (in Dutch)
  12. ^ Uittenbogaard, Marthijn (2003). "Out of the closet #2", OK magazine, 87.
  13. ^ de Jonge, Norbert (2003). "Touching Young Girls", OK magazine, 87.
  14. ^ "University drops paedophile student", Expatica, 16 June 2006.
  15. ^ "Nijmegen verwijdert pedofïel", NieuwNieuws, 15 June 2006. (Dutch)
  16. ^ International Town Hall Meeting with PNVD, part 2, IBLD. (Recorded for Pedologues)
  17. ^ Court refuses to ban Dutch pedophile party AP article

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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