Stichting Cassandra is a Dutch foundation that defends the interests of victims of sexual and psychological violence. The foundation currently publishes its work in five

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

History

Stichting Cassandra was founded in 2020 by

whistleblower Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...

Pieke Roelofs as a result of her own experiences with abuse, the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

, and the

legal system A legal system is a set of legal norms and institutions and processes by which those norms are applied, often within a particular jurisdiction or community. It may also be referred to as a legal order. The comparative study of legal systems is th ...

. Roelofs stated that the systematic failure in sexual violence cases and failure of the government to protect victims "must stop", and that the Dutch

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

did "not only put victims in danger, but also society." The foundation has its registered office in

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...

. In March 2020, the foundation demonstrated at an

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...

March, raising attention for the fact that

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

has not legally defined sex without consent as

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

, urging

minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

Ferdinand Grapperhaus Ferdinand Bernhard Joseph "Ferd" Grapperhaus (born 8 November 1959) is a Dutch politician who served as Minister of Justice and Security in the Third Rutte cabinet from 26 October 2017 until 10 January 2022. He is a member of the Christian Democ ...

De Limburger ''De Limburger'' is a Dutch newspaper covering the province of Limburg. The ''Limburgs Dagblad'' merged into ''De Limburger'' at the end 2017. Both newspapers were owned by Mediahuis. ''Dagblad De Limburger'', the previous name of ''De Limburger ...

to “hurry up” with the proposed new rape laws. In May 2020, masked

activists Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

of the foundation protested at

Vrijthof Vrijthof is a large Town square, urban square in the centre of Maastricht, Netherlands. The square developed from an Roman Empire, ancient Roman and Franks, Frankish cemetery into a semi-private space that belonged to the Basilica of Saint Serva ...

in Maastricht using

ultraviolet Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of ...

lights and

neon Neon is a chemical element; it has symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is the second noble gas in the periodic table. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with approximately two-thirds the density of ...

balloon A balloon is a flexible membrane bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. For special purposes, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), ...

s spelling 'Mask for Justice', raising awareness on the increase of

domestic violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...

as a result of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

isolation. In August 2020, the foundation responded to a Dutch government consultation about the proposed new sex crime laws in the Netherlands, warning about the low prosecution number of rapists in the country. The foundation also stated that in the first 3 quarters of 2019, only 37% of reports of rape to the police led to a

criminal complaint In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons (see: cause of action) that the filing party or parties (the plaintiff(s)) believes are sufficient to support a claim against the party ...

. It was added that in October 2019, according to police sources, 945 rape cases had been pending for longer than six months, 90 of which for longer than two years. The foundation criticised the fact that since 2017 the maximum sentence of 12 years in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

had never been demanded in a rape case; the highest sentence imposed was 6 years, the lowest 21 days, and on average a rapist was jailed for a year and 5 months. The foundation highlighted that Meldpunt Kinderporno received approximately 300,000 reports of

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...

child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in Human sexual activity, sexual activit ...

materials in 2019, which was 'an increase of 38 percent: the previous year, the number of reports increased by 45 percent'. Concerning

consent Consent occurs when one person voluntarily agrees to the proposal or desires of another. It is a term of common speech, with specific definitions used in such fields as the law, medicine, research, and sexual consent. Consent as understood i ...

, Stichting Cassandra stated that "what matters in abuse cases is whether facts and circumstances have made it impossible for the victim to freely determine their will", whether the perpetrator "abused this" or that the perpetrator even "deliberately created this situation". According to the foundation, "in an amendment to the law, the existence, abuse and/or deliberate influence of those power dynamics should be elaborated and put at the center of consideration". Stichting Cassandra criticised newly introduced terminology "sexual interaction against the will" by minister

in the proposed law reform, referring to it as an example of "contempt and disregard" towards victims and that the choice of words "shifts the focus of the offender on something that happens between the offender and the victim" as well as that the "reality of being abused" is no longer mentioned, stating the choice of words was "neutralizing" abuse and "secondarily traumatizing" for victims. The foundation said, among others, seeing the terminology "sexual interaction" above sex crime articles concerning abuse of children, made them 'gag'.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Non-profit organisations based in the Netherlands 2020 establishments in the Netherlands Maastricht Organisations based in Limburg (Netherlands)