Pieter Omtzigt

Pieter Omtzigt (Ph.D., Econometrics, European University Institute in Florence) has been a Member of the Dutch Parliament since 2003 and a replacement Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe since 2004. In the Dutch Parliament, he is a spokesman on pensions, taxes, and Europe. In the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and at home, he has strived to uphold human rights and freedom of religion. On many occasions, he has raised the situation of persecuted Christians both in the Dutch Parliament and in Europe. He was a driving force for including the aim of bringing ISIS fighters to justice in the Dutch government agreement in the year that the Netherlands holds a temporary seat in the UN Security Council. In the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in which MPs from 47 member states take part, his proposal to recognize the atrocities of ISIS as acts of genocide passed in January 2016. He is now proposing further research into the way European weapons ended up in the hands of ISIS. He is the co-author of The Slow disappearance of the Syriacs from Turkey and of the grounds of the Mor Gabriel Monastery.