Leaders of Children’s Ombudsman (‘Kinderombudsman’) and ‘Partos’ are not to be taken seriously

Posted on | april 2, 2011 | 1 Comment

The new leaders of Children’s Ombudsman (Marc Dullaert) and ‘Partos’ (Alexander Kohnstamm) are not to be taken seriously. Why?

Not long ago I published my research about a fake NGO: ‘South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude’ (SACCS), also known as Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) or Global March (read research HERE). The Indian NGO claims to liberate children from hard labour, bounded labour and slavery. But the numbers of liberated kids are totally invented. Before the eyes of journalists and officials, child labour is faked by children from a school.

Dutch NGO Kidsrights is donating to SACCS/BBA. Mid 2009 I had an appointment with one of the board members of Kidsrights, treasurer Alexander Kohnstamm. During a long meeting I presented my findings of the research. I was very much surprised that Kidsrights decided to continue the relations with SACCS/BBA. SACCS/BBA is a campaign industry with lots of global PR, a perfect sausage for Kidsrights. I was nothing more than an annoying fly.

At 8th of February 2010 I wrote an article titled ‘PR-Shopping with Kidsrights’, referring to their annual TV-show during Christmas in which famous Dutch people are doing circus tricks for funding. To my opinion, the core problem of Kidsrights is their focus on PR instead of output.

In January 2011 I contacted Kohnstamm and Marc Dullaert, chairman of Kidsrights. I have asked them for proven output/outcome documents concerning SACCS/BBA. Surprisingly, they could not give me or were not willing to prove the whereabouts of their donations.

This week, both names have been news in The Netherlands. Marc Dullaert is the first Children’s Ombudsman (Kinderombudsman) of The Netherlands. He was confirmed by oath via the Dutch House of Commons. The Children’s Ombudsman checks if the government complies with the children rights in the Netherlands. They also monitor private organizations such as childcare, youth care and health organizations.

Alexander Kohnstamm is Director of Partos. According to the website of Partos: ‘Partos is the national platform for Dutch civil society organisations in the international development cooperation sector. This field includes poverty alleviation, humanitarian intervention, human rights and sustainable development. Many member organisations work directly in developing countries, often in cooperation with partner organisations. Other members focus instead, or additionally, on the Netherlands. In this case, the objectives include influencing policy, gaining and distributing information and knowledge, and consolidating a broad range of support among the Dutch public arena.’

We have a certain law in The Netherlands. Government organizations are subject by a so-called ‘Wet Openbaarheid van Bestuur’ (Literal translation: Law Public Government). Citizens are able to demand insight in documents and meetings. But this does not apply to foundations. Unfortunately, all NGOs in The Netherlands have a legal registration as a foundation, even Oxfam Novib, Médecins Sans Frontières, ICCO, HIVOS, Cordaid, Unicef, Red Cross, Terre des Hommes, ZOA Vluchtelingenzorg (Dutch Consortium for Rehabilitation), War Child, IKV-Pax Christi and PLAN Nederland (Child Rights Alliance). Without this legal registration, there is no perspective of receiving subsidy by our national government (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Development Cooperation). Organizations like Kidsrights are not indebted to make documents public. Even after receiving my critical remarks. Kohnstamm and Dullaert knew that they have been supporting a fake organization, but they were able to hide themselves behind the curtain of the legal construction of Dutch foundations.

For comparison, I contacted the Swedish government. The Swedish government stated to me that:

“Most development organisations in Sweden are not foundations. Most of them get money from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and they have to declare what they have done with that money and when they do, these declarations are public.”

This construction is more waterproof although some Swedish NGOs are still a foundation, like Euromed, Caritas, Earth Charter, World Childhood, Sumatran Orangutan Society, No One Is Illegal, Mercy, Stockholm International Water Institute, Alliance for Global Sustainability, Amref, Eden, LIFE, Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, Peace Appeal, Human Rights, Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research. Sweden has the same rules for foundations as The Netherlands: they do not have to proof any output.

According to the website of Kidsrights:

‘KidsRights guarantees that 100% of your donation is transferred to the project of your choice.’

Kohnstamm and Dullaert are not to be taken very seriously. Just like SACCS/BBA, they are both very passionate to regulate their own career. They do not represent output of aid or the interests of children. Their past has proven that they are focussed on funding and becoming famous. Only future will tell if Kohnstamm and Dullaert are willing to present proven documents to tax payers and journalists in their new positions. I have little fate. They promised 100% guarantee before. They gave me 0%. This illustrates Kohnstamm and Dullaert to me.

AUTHOR: Hans Sluijter
URL: www.NL-Aid.org
E-MAIL: info [at] www.NL-Aid.org