NOS News•today, 4:30 PM
Eleven organizations, including unions of military personnel and fire brigade volunteers and the action group SchipholWatch, are taking the State of the Netherlands to court. They hold the State liable for the pollution and health damage caused by the toxic substance PFAS. They believe that the government is not sufficiently fulfilling its duty of care and refer, among other things, to two resolutions on human rights adopted by the United Nations.
Today a summons of more than 150 pages was issued in The Hague. The lawsuit is being filed on behalf of the organizations by Knoops Advocaten, which has been working on the case for almost a year with a team of six lawyers, supported by PFAS experts.
The summons contains eighteen claims. The most important requirements are that the State is recognized as liable for the PFAS pollution, is obliged to clean up all pollution and carries out a national health investigation.
The organizations and their experts call the measures taken by the State so far “completely insufficient to tackle the pollution problem”. Knoops Advocaten sees parallels with the Urgenda case. In 2019, the State was obliged by the Supreme Court to adhere to the agreements in the Paris Climate Agreement. Just like then, the arrows are not aimed at the industry, but at the central government.
Human rights
Unique in this case, lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops mentions the fact that UN resolutions on human rights are invoked. He thinks his case has a chance because the UN adopted a resolution in 2022 recognizing a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right. A new UN resolution followed in March 2023, asking the International Court of Justice in The Hague for advice on whether it can be established as a legal obligation to tackle the climate crisis.
Since then, rulings that elaborate on this have been made in various countries and international courts, including at the European Court of Human Rights and by high courts in, for example, Sweden and Australia. Now the time is ripe to also apply it in the Netherlands, Knoops believes.
Various reasons
The eleven organizations have different motives for participating. The fire brigade associations are participating because firefighters may be contaminated for a long time with PFAS in firefighting foam. Action group SchipholWatch points out PFAS in the soil around Schiphol. The West Friesland Elderly Network believes that there is a relationship between PFAS and the poor health of many residents of the village of Westwoud.
The Dutch State has three months to meet all requirements. If this has not happened by July 21, the trial will actually start.
