Majority in sight for law to prevent suicide

#Majority #sight #law #prevent #suicide
ANP Office of 113 Suicide Prevention

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 05:00

More and more parties in the House of Representatives want more to be done to prevent suicide. The Christian Union’s initiative to stipulate in law that the suicide prevention line 113 will always remain free will probably receive a majority in Parliament.

Today the House of Representatives is discussing the initiative law, which also stipulates that the cabinet is responsible for policy that should lead to a reduction in the number of suicides. Municipalities are also given a task and receive money that they can use, for example, to install fences at places along the track where suicide attempts are often made.

Every year, several tens of thousands of people in the Netherlands attempt to kill themselves. This works in five cases every day.

Yesterday afternoon the ‘Suicide Show’ was broadcast on radio station KINK for 3 hours, with the aim of making and keeping these kinds of feelings open to discussion:

‘Suicide show’ on radio station KINK must break taboo

“I think it is so important that we have a policy to reduce that number,” says Christian Union leader Bikker. “The fact that people are so desperate and see no other way out is terrible for them, but also for the family left behind.” Is the bill sufficient to really make a difference? “In any case, it is an important step.”

Her party presented the plans for the special law in 2021, together with CDA, GroenLinks, PvdA, SP, SGP and 50Plus. NSC, BBB and Party for the Animals have now also joined the initiative. That is a total of 71 seats. It is expected that other parties will eventually support the law, creating a majority of more than 75 seats.

According to Bikker, the prevention line 113 has proven to prevent suicide attempts. The continued existence of the line must not depend on the political issues of the day and therefore its financing must become a legal task. “113 must always be accessible,” Bikker emphasizes.

10 million for municipalities

In addition, the law focuses on municipalities. They must develop policies to combat suicide. Everywhere a councilor must be responsible for that task. The government allocates ten million euros for this annually, which is divided among the municipalities, the proposal states.

The municipalities can decide for themselves how they implement this prevention policy. For example, they can focus on solving (financial) problems, which often form the basis of suicidal thoughts. But they can also take physical measures to prevent people from making an attempt, such as placing fences along the track.

Rail manager ProRail is happy with the initiative. The company says it is already doing a lot to prevent suicide attempts around the railways, but sometimes receives too little cooperation from municipalities. The 113 Suicide Prevention foundation previously stated that it was enthusiastic about the bill.

Are you thinking about suicide or worried about someone? Talking about suicide helps and can be done anonymously via chat www.113.nl or by telephone on 113 or 0800-0113.