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23/11/2021

Judgement of the District Court of the Hague on the Claim against the Dutch State

Appears in case: Summary Proceedings (Civil) against the State of Netherlands

Jurisdiction

The Netherlands

Locale

Armed Conflict in Yemen

Recipient State

Egypt

Document Type

Judgements

The court finds that the claimants, acting in the public interest, have standing to bring civil proceedings but dismisses the request for a ban on future exports of military goods to Egypt.nnn

In response to the claimant’s submission, the District Court of the Hague finds that the claimants have standing to bring these civil proceedings under the Dutch Civil Code, as they are acting in the public interest and are therefore able to bring a collective action. The court dismisses the request for a complete ban on future exports of military goods to Egypt as it considers that this would be incompatible with the case-by-case assessment process in the Netherlands. The court considers that the request for a ban on already authorised exports of military goods to Egypt is closely related to questions of security and foreign policy in which the state has a large margin of discretion. The court concludes that while the human rights situation in Egypt is worrying, this does not lead to the conclusion that the licences could not have been granted. The position of the Dutch State, that there is no clear risk that the military goods to be exported will be used for internal repression or in the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law, is according to the court therefore not ‘manifestly incorrect or incomprehensible’.

Read the claimant’s submission under consideration in these proceedings here.