About

Haissam Malas, a Syrian-born Dutch national, initiated the Our Rights Not Their Immunity movement after enduring a decade-long struggle to protect his children from state-inflicted abuse.

Haissam’s children faced regular beatings, forced consumption of pork, singing racist songs, and daily Protestant prayers at the hands of primary school teachers who insisted on their conversion to Christianity. In 2005, Haissam sought legal assistance, only to be told by lawyers that sovereign immunity law rendered his pursuit futile.

Acknowledging the abandonment by the Dutch legal system, Haissam turned to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and filed a case against the Netherlands on July 23, 2008.

Subsequently, Dutch authorities employed falsified documents to launch a smear campaign, resulting in the closure of Haissam’s export business and substantial fines that left his family bankrupt. The Ministry of Security and Justice attempted to strip Haissam of custody over his children, prompting him to send them to live with their mother in Russia in 2011. Haissam has not seen his children, except for his eldest son, since their escape.

Despite turning to the ECHR as their last hope, a Spanish judge dropped the case in 2012. Sovereign immunity shielded Dutch authorities from legal accountability, allowing them to devastate Haissam’s family without repercussions.

Having spent nearly two decades fighting for justice, Haissam discovered that his case was just one of many. His book, ‘The King Is Doing Wrong,’ chronicles his children’s abuse and highlights similar stories from other families in the Netherlands. Despite Haissam’s efforts, Dutch and international institutions, including the European Courts, the United Nations, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, have ignored the human rights abuses he exposed.

Seeking justice, Haissam reached out to various institutions, including the National Ombudsman of the Netherlands, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, the EU Commissioner for Human Rights, and two US Presidents, all of whom refused to investigate.

Citing international conventions such as the ICCPR, ICESCR, and CRC, Haissam argues that the Netherlands is failing to uphold its legal obligations. Allegations of violating the right to life of newborns through euthanasia laws, as outlined by the Human Rights Committee, have also gone unaddressed.

Highlighting the urgency for public pressure, Haissam’s family represents one of many suffering in silence due to state actions that infringe upon basic human rights. Our Rights Not Their Immunity seeks to mobilize public support for human rights and compel the Netherlands to abolish the outdated sovereign immunity law.

 

 

Children, including Muslims, should not be threatened, feared, humiliated, insulted, beaten, forced to eat pork, sing racist songs, pray every day contrary to their faith, wear a cross, celebrate Christmas and be denied medical care as happened to Haissam’s children.
It should be noted that private schools are free to attend because they are funded by the government. To further confuse the issue, the government uses the term “private” because these are mainly Christian, religious schools and they count for more than two-thirds of all Dutch primary schools. Furthermore, since there is no national curriculum, schools can teach children anything they want to serve their religious and political interests, including racism.
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