Posted on 07/17/2006 9:37:08 AM PDT by presidio9
A Dutch court refused Monday to ban a political party whose main goal is to lower the age of sexual consent from 16 to 12. The judge said it was the voters' right to judge the appeal of political parties.
The party has only three known members, one of whom was convicted of molesting an 11-year-old boy in 1987. Widely dubbed the "pedophile" party, it is unlikely ever to win a seat in parliament. The group would need around 60,000 votes, and pollsters estimate it would get fewer than 1,000.
Opponents had asked The Hague District Court to bar the party from registering for national elections in November, arguing that children have the right not to be confronted with the party's platform.
"Freedom of expression, freedom ... of association, including the freedom to set up a political party, can be seen as the basis for a democratic society," Judge H. Hofhuis said in his ruling.
"These freedoms give citizens the opportunity to, for example, use a political party to appeal for change to the constitution, law, or policy."
He noted that the PNVD party, the Dutch abbreviation of Brotherly Love, Freedom and Diversity, had not committed a crime, but was calling for a change in the law.
"It is the right of the voter to judge the appeal of political parties," he said.
The party sparked outrage when it proclaimed its existence in late May, but prosecutors declined to prosecute its members as a threat to public order.
"We expected this result," said party treasurer Ad van den Berg, 62. "We are not doing anything illegal so there is no reason to ban us."
Van den Berg was fined and given a suspended prison sentence for molesting an 11-year-old boy in 1987. After his background became known last month, he was chased from the trailer park where he lived in the city of Oostvoorne.
Anke de Wijn, an attorney representing the party's opponents, said the group was abusing Dutch tolerance.
"Victims feel hurt by the wish of pedophiles to make their desires known in public," De Wijn said. "There are few limitations on free speech, and that's good, but this group is making misuse of the privilege, to provoke."
The PNVD's known members were a president, a secretary and a treasurer, as required under Dutch law. In order to stand in elections scheduled for Nov. 22, it will have to submit a list of candidates and the signatures of at least 30 supporters to get on the ballot in any one of the country's 19 voting districts.
Ireen van Engelen of the Solace Foundation, which researches pedophilia, said the party likely would fail to register for the elections because pedophiles seek anonymity.
"They will never want to connect their name to the party and without the signatures they can't go in the elections," she said.
Their, from earlier pieces, final goal is an incremental removal of ALL limits. This "12" stuff was just a first step.
As to the convicted perv, I'm "sure" he was set up and framed; the kid's tricycle-driver's license probably said he was 13...
Series, this "party" is just three men in search of a boy, all three of which are now in the open to be watched every moment by not just an inept police, but by every decent person.
IOW, it ain't hugh, though I would set my beeber to "REMOVE" rather than "STUNE".
This shows how immoral a country becomes when it is so anti-life.Thank goodness that we have such a strong pro-life movement in the nited States.
I want to start a party dedicated to the extinction of liberals. I know many others feel the same way. In Holland this would be OK?
Isn't this the country that forces you to watch gays getting it on,to show tolerance?Sick culture for sure.
WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
OMG....bwahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
This is the same principle as US cities granting permits for neo-Nazis to hold marches. Let them expose their stupidity in public.
Interesting that the 3-member party, whose treasurer has a conviction for molesting an 11-year-old boy, is pushing a platform which calls for lowering the age of consent to 12. You'd think a member of a 3-member party would have a little more pull . . .
Article says they are unlikely to ever win a seat in pariament. I predict that they WILL win at least one seat within my lifetime (I am 58). I don't think it is possible to underestimate the state of morality over there.
I'd compare that relationship to the appearance of representatives of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, (WCTU), in a rough saloon full of hard-drinking men.
Despite the earnestness of their entreaties, and the nobility of their purpose, they are greeted only with hoots of derision and amused contempt, and not a shred of cooperation.
Don't worry about it. They've been demanding "rights" for decades now, and the real political parties have all tossed them and their demands out the door. That's why they've had to form a party of their own, with all 3 people in the country who are willing to admit to being members of this idiotic group.
I'm sure it would be, and I'm sure you'd get a lot more votes than these pervs will (thoguh it seems unlikely that they'll even get on the ballot).
I doubt that an American court would allow such a party to be banned. The only difference between us and the Dutch on this issue is that there is a demand for such a party in the Netherlands.
The party's registration list is a good list of potential/active sex offenders for the authorities. If they care to prosecute that sort of thing.
O-H M-Y G-O-S-H!!! Three members in the party. The world is surely ending.
Didn't they have legalized child porn in the 70s?!
Scumbags.
I think most of the posters here are 'WAY overreacting to the threat. We've probably got a Pedophile party AND a Cannibal party AND a Dog-lovers' party right here in the US and nobody ever noticed.
The Dutch are basically 2nd class Germans.
Take it to the 9th Circuit Court, they will approve anything.
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