Open letter: 'Pedophiles deserve our protection'

By: A.H.J. Dautzenberg, Meindert Fennema & Arnon Grunberg

Marthijn Uittenbogaard is the figurehead of pedophile the Netherlands. A man without a criminal record, but with an opinion, and with a mission. Two weeks ago the front door of his house was kicked in. Not by aggressive pedo hunters this time, but by the police.

A team of eighteen (!) People invaded, searched his home and seized, among other things, the archive of the Martijn Association, which was banned in 2014. The search by the public prosecutor lasted almost twelve hours. Suspicion: continuation of Vereniging Martijn. At the same time, similar incidents took place with pedophiles with whom Uittenbogaard was in a mail group. Some of them had planned to breathe new life into the Party for Charity, Freedom and Diversity, a political party that stands up for pedophiles and has not really blossomed in the past.

Uittenbogaard wrote about the raid on his personal website, in the form of a public letter to the COC [marthijn.nl/p/193]: "If I had to go to the bathroom, the door wouldn’t close. All the while I had to sit on a chair with a different guard next to me. My partner - we have a partnership registration together - was arrested. He is a victim of living together with and choosing me. Since his arrest last Tuesday, I have not had any contact with him. After the house search, the police left me behind - it was now night - with taped cameras, a broken front door and without a telephone or computer. Nice and safe. The next day someone threw a brick at my polycarbonate windows. I was able to call 112 by then, but nobody came."

Vereniging Martijn was founded in 1982 with the aim of offering pedophiles an organizational platform and to enter into a dialogue with society and politics. In the early years, the VVD regularly approached the association, because the liberals wanted to reduce the age limit for sexual contacts from sixteen to twelve years. There was also a lot of contact with the COC at that time. The bill from the VVD did not make it to the House of Representatives. Martijn Association remained committed to a change in the law. That was allowed, freedom of expression and freedom of association are pillars of liberal democracy.

Until 2014. The Supreme Court in cassation annulled the "acquittal" by the court in Leeuwarden. The public prosecutor's office got its way: Vereniging Martijn was banned on civil law grounds and dissolved immediately. After years of investigation, no criminal offenses had been found, but according to the court the ideas had to be challenged. Thoughts are no longer free in the Netherlands. Also for example Nabokov's novel Lolita could now be banned, since writing or visualizing dreams, fantasies and desires of pedophiles has been declared illegal. Pedophiles have since lived in even greater fear of being "discovered".

Whether we like it or not, pedophilia exists and will probably always exist. This orientation may be a constant, the degree of acceptance thereof fluctuates. Today it is one of our biggest taboos. Most pedophiles (there are approximately 150,000 in the Netherlands) incidentally adhere to the law. The vast majority of child abuse takes place within the family or the family, but little is reported. There are regular indications that there is something ‘wrong’ within a family (via the Centraal Meldpunt Nederland and youth care), but a house search will not take place quickly, let alone a team of eighteen people kick the door and ruin the house.

The self-proclaimed pedophiles have to suffer, they have become the symbol of sexual abuse of children. And if a few go over the line, the whole group is nailed to the pillory - "vermin that must be destroyed." The exceptions must form the picture. Pedophiles are pitted out in society. It is therefore understandable that pedophiles need to talk to each other about their (inner) struggle, without having to hide in the most shadowy gaps of the internet. This has not been possible since the 2014 judgment. Some still want to publicly express their orientation. Debates are not crimes, and pedophilia is different from pedosexuality.

King Willem-Alexander emphasized in his recent Christmas speech that all people are equal, regardless of their sexual orientation. The House of Representatives debated at the end of 2019 about the bill to explicitly include discrimination on grounds of disability or sexual orientation in the constitution. A large majority supports the initiative law of D66, GroenLinks and the PvdA. A so-called second reading is necessary for an actual change; After the next elections, the initiative law will be discussed again in the (newly composed) Lower House. The Senate will then consider the adjustment.

The interest group COC is happy with the initiative; it has been fighting for years for a tightening of the law, so that the hard-fought rights of non-heterosexuals are also guaranteed for the long term. What is striking is that there is always talk of the LGBTI community. However, there is one group that is never mentioned: pedophiles, although (neuro) psychologists have agreed for years that pedophilia is also a mode of birth - congenital. The big difference with the other modes is of course that children are vulnerable and cannot give an independent opinion about what they do and do not want. That does not alter the fact that a pedophile orientation cannot and cannot be prohibited, and that it must be possible to discuss pedosexuality. We would therefore like to ask the COC to participate in this discussion and, where possible, support Marthijn Uittenbogaard and other hunted pedophiles.

source: Article < Open letter: 'Pedophiles deserve our protection > by A.H.J. Dautzenberg (writer), Prof. Dr. Meindert Fennema (emeritus professor of political theory) & Arnon Grunberg (writer); Text translated from Dutch; Original Dutch text published (4 February 2020) on www.ahjdautzenberg.nl/2020/02/een-open-brief-aan-het-coc/ and also on JOOP.nl (4 Februari 2020) joop.bnnvara.nl/opinies/pedofielen-verdienen-onze-bescherming and on ThePostOnline (4 February 2020) tpo.nl/2020/02/04/open-brief-pedofielen-verdienen-onze-bescherming/ and in the newspaper Brabants Dagblad (6 Februari 2020); www.mbs.news/a/2020/02/open-letter-pedophiles-deserve-our-protection.html; MbS News; 4 February 2020