Corinne Dettmeijer appointed Officer in the Order of Oranje-Nassau
Dutch National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings and Sexual Violence against Children Corinne Dettmeijer was appointed Officer in the order of Oranje-Nassau, during her farewell symposium on the 13th of November. The Minister of Justice and Security Grapperhaus, praised her efforts in the Netherlands and abroad concerning trafficking in human beings and sexual violence against children. Dettmeijer had been the National Rapporteur since 2006.
Dettmeijer said goodbye with a symposium at which a variety of people who inspired Dettmeijer spoke, including Peter Barnes (about the role of financial institutions in the fight against trafficking in human beings), Aafke Scharloo (about people’s aversion to seeing signs of sexual abuse) and Rembrandt Zuijderhoudt (about conflicting concepts of humanity). Through these speakers, Dettmeijer could shine light on various subjects within her mandates for one last time. Beside the main speakers, four (former) employees of Dettmeijers’ office spoke about various aspects of her work, such as the human trafficking article in the Criminal Code, the detection of child pornography, the use of data in the fight against trafficking in human beings and evidence-based policy. Dettmeijer herself looked back on eleven years as National Rapporteur and emphasized the importance of societal engagement in combating trafficking in human beings and sexual violence against children. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was the master of ceremonies for the day.
Final day
The departure of the National Rapporteur follows the end of her legally prescribed tenure. On her last day as the National Rapporteur, Dettmeijer visited the Humanitas Foundation, a shelter for trafficking victims, and youth detention center Den Hey-acker, where she talked to boys with severe sexual problems.
Successor
Herman Bolhaar (former chairman of the Attorney General’s College of the Public Prosecutor) succeeds Dettmeijer as new Dutch rapporteur on February 1th 2018. Bolhaar is currently affiliated as a Senior Fellow with the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University in Cambridge, United States.