Boris Dittrich

Infobox_Politician


name = Boris Dittrich
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birth_date =Birth date and age|1955|7|21|mf=y
birth_place =Utrecht, Netherlands
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office =D66 Parliamentary leader
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term_start = 2003
term_end = 2006
predecessor = Thom de Graaf
successor = Lousewies van der Laan
party = Democrats 66
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website = [http://www.borisdittrich.nl www.borisdittrich.nl]
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Boris Ottokar Dittrich (Utrecht, July 21, 1955) is a Dutch politician and human rights activist. He was a member of parliament between 1994 and 2006, for the social-liberal party D66.

Dittrich is a former lawyer and judge. His father came to the Netherlands as a political asylum seeker from Czechoslovakia in 1948.

Dittrich followed Thom de Graaf as parliamentary leader of D66, when de Graaf stepped down after disappointing results in the 2003 general elections. Dittrich negotiated the participation of D66 in the Dutch coalition government Balkenende II with the christian-democratic CDA and the other liberal party VVD. Dittrich decided not to become a minister but to stay floorleader in parliament in order to check whether the new government would apply the coalition contract. The new government introduced major reforms to which the staggering Dutch economy responded positively. D66 withdrew its support for the government after 3 years because of a dispute with Dutch minister Rita Verdonk (minister of foreigners affairs and integration) over the way she handled the issue of the Dutch passport of Ayaan Hirsi Ali. New elections were announced for November 2006.

Since 1838 there has not been a member of Dutch Parliament who has drafted four private bills successfully. Dittrich took the initiative for laws against stalking, for rights of victims to speak during the criminal trial, for abolishing the timelimits on persecution of crimes like murder and manslaughter, and finally he wrote the law to fix bookprices in order to protect smaller bookshops, authors and customers. During his career as member of parliament he became famous for his initiatives on typical Dutch issues like same-sex marriage, euthanasia, legalising prostitution and decriminalising the use of soft drug. Dittrich is one of the first openly gay members of parliament. He is a strong advocate for human rights and has represented the Dutch parliament on numerous occasions at meetings in the UN. In october 2006 he was asked to address the annual meeting of the IPU (inter parliamentary Union) in Geneva.

Dittrich was against Dutch military involvement in the Afghan province of Uruzgan. After the decision of the Dutch government (including his own D66-ministers) which was backed up by 3/4 of Dutch parliament Dittrich took his responsibility and stepped down as leader of the D66 faction on February 3, 2006. He continued as member of parliament until the elections of November 2006. The Dutch Queen has granted him the knighthood in the Order of Orange Nassau for his political works during 12 1/2 years.

Dittrich was vice president of Liberal International until October 2007. He currently works for Human Rights Watch in New York City, as Advocacy Director of the LGBT rights program. He attended the Moscow Pride in May 2007. Afterwards Human Rights Watch published a report about the freedom rights in Russia. It lead to parliamentary questions in the Dutch and European Parliament. In July 2007 Dittrich was invited to Kathmandu, Nepal to discuss the upcoming Constitutional revision with members of the Nepalese parliament. In september 2007 he visited Brasilia and spoke to members of the Brazilian government and parliament about support for LGBT-issues in Brazil's foreign policy. In November 2007 Dittrich opened and moderated a meeting in the United Nations in New York on the introduction of the Yogyakarta Principles, a set of human rights in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity. The meeting was sponsored by Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Besides Dittrich other speakers included Mary Robinson (former president of Ireland and former High Commissioner for Human Rights), Ana Cabral( minister of human rights in the Brazilian government), Frederico Villegas (head Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Argentina) and Dianela Pi, first secretary of the Uruguayan mission to the UN in New York, and speakers from UNAIDS and NGOs.

External links

* [http://www.borisdittrich.nl Dittrich's homepage]