## Facts

- J. Glimmerveen, president of the Nederlandse Volks Unie (NVU), and J. Hagenbeek, an NVU candidate, advanced an NVU program favoring an ethnically “homogeneous” population and opposing “racial mixing.”
- Glimmerveen possessed leaflets intended for distribution that advocated expelling “Surinamers, Turks and other so-called guest workers” and, more broadly, removing non-white people from the Netherlands regardless of nationality, residence, or family ties.
- A Dutch court convicted Glimmerveen for possessing racist leaflets with intent to disseminate, sentencing him to a short prison term under the Dutch Criminal Code.
- Dutch authorities also prevented Glimmerveen and Hagenbeek from standing as candidates on the NVU electoral list for municipal elections.
- The applicants filed complaints alleging violations of Article 10 (expression) and Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 (free elections), with reference to Article 14 (non-discrimination).

## Issues

1. Whether Article 10 protects dissemination of leaflets and political advocacy calling for removal of non-white persons from national territory, or whether Article 17 (abuse of rights) bars reliance on Article 10 for such purposes.
2. Whether Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 can be invoked to defend candidacies grounded on a platform of racial discrimination, or whether Article 17 bars reliance on that electoral right.
3. Whether Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 applies to municipal elections (raised but not decided because Article 17 was dispositive).

## Decision

- The European Commission of Human Rights declared the applications inadmissible as manifestly ill-founded.
- The Commission held that Article 17 barred the applicants from relying on Article 10 to spread racially discriminatory ideas.
- The Commission held that Article 17 also barred reliance on Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to support a candidacy founded on racial discrimination.
- Because Article 17 applied, the Commission did not conduct a standard necessity/proportionality review under Article 10(2) or a full analysis under Protocol No. 1, Article 3.

## Legal Principles

- Article 17 prevents Convention rights from being used to justify activities aimed at destroying the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Convention.
- Expression advocating racial discrimination, including programs seeking removal of non-white people from a state’s territory, falls outside protection where Article 17 applies.
- Electoral rights under Protocol No. 1, Article 3 cannot be invoked to shield participation in elections when the political platform is based on racial discrimination.
- The “duties and responsibilities” associated with freedom of expression under Article 10(2) are reflected in the Convention’s bar on abuse of rights in Article 17.
- Racial discrimination is incompatible with Convention guarantees, including Article 14’s non-discrimination requirement.

## Conclusion

The Commission held that applicants could not invoke Convention guarantees of expression or electoral participation to defend racist leaflets or a racially discriminatory political platform, because Article 17 foreclosed reliance on those rights and rendered the applications manifestly ill-founded.


Glimmerveen & Hagenbeek v. Netherlands, 4 Eur. H.R. Rep. 260 (Eur. Comm'n H.R. 1979)