tell us why you are scared protesting and get that 2nd today because they have been changing from some of the fed just us from federal response and now was that we didn't. know organizers want to make this more national thing they want to expand not only it sounds protests against police brutality but they also want to see more reforms in the public sector they want all officials leaders politicians and everybody more accountable to the public in nigeria so this is one of the things that is keeping these protests rolling. half past the hour on al-jazeera these are the headlines russia is urging armenia and azerbaijan to settle the nickel and i care about conflicts through diplomatic means a media and azerbaijan of accuse each other of attacks on civilians ever since russia brokered a cease fire on saturday and smith has more on that fighting from go to say.

there is still a lot of fighting along the line of contact and the angry rhetoric between. john is ratcheting up accusing our media of targeting oil and gas pipelines armenia says john is trying to seize control of nagorno-karabakh russia's police over the top of this for them to observe the humanitarian cease fire don't seem to be being listened to on the big difference in the dynamic now is the involvement of turkey and headlines tens of thousands of afghans have been forced to escape 4 days of fighting between taliban and government forces aid agencies say hospitals becoming overwhelmed by the wounded in helmand province. coronavirus case is a surging across europe to the highest levels in months britain has just registered the 2nd highest number of daily infections so far england's introduce new restrictions and france's just announced

a public health emergency starting saturday israeli governments approved the construction of thousands of new illegal settlement homes in the occupied west bank the 1st such go ahead since the united arab emirates and bihari normalize their relations with israel. and israel and lebanon 2 nations still technically at war have met for the 1st time in decades to discuss their maritime borders the delegations are in southern lebanon for what are being called indirect talks both sides claim parts of the mediterranean coastline where oil and gas fields have been discovered. in the european union is imposing sanctions on 6 people over the poisoning of kremlin critic alexei navalny asset freezes and travel bans reportedly target people in the defense ministry and spy agency involved is recovering in berlin after being poisoned in siberia in august moscow denies any responsibility for that those are the headlines it's talk to al-jazeera is next.

what is it all. to see. the netherlands it's not in for its liberal and innovative policies including being one of the 1st countries to legalize prostitution euthanasia and same sex marriage . it's also one of the world's most vibrant economists a founding member of the united nations and the european union and has the clout to play a role in global affairs. i'm james plays at the un in new york on this edition of talk to al-jazeera we connect with the foreign minister of the netherlands as we

review global crises from belo roost and they're going to kind of back the dynamics between the u.s. and china in the geopolitical race between russia and turkey of course there's coded 19 bricks and the eaves attempts to achieve a unified foreign policy we get the dutch perspective to step talks to al-jazeera. steph brock foreign minister of the kingdom of the netherlands thank you for joining us here on talk to al-jazeera if i can start this interview and it's in a rather a negative way by looking at the state to the world we have a 1000000 people around the world who have died from coronavirus we have the worst recession this century we have a climate crisis we have growing nationalism and racism and really it seems a lack of international leadership it's a very grim picture isn't it well painted dead way it's great. and of course

true but i think it's not the whole picture and i think we still can conclude that the world has seen tremendous of funds over the past decades. because of a number of factors of course that are not a technological developments developments in health care but also international cooperation and indeed international cooperation is not running as smoothly as we would like it to be not running as smoothly as it's might have been about a decade ago but still very much worth fighting for because of the progress that we've seen ok let's look at some of those issues in that 1st let me take you back 75 years your country the netherlands had been liberated it was a free country once again after nazi occupation it was also a founding member of the united nations 75 years old and i don't know if you look

really that system appears to be creaking coated 19 was the big test and let me quote you from the u.n. secretary general antonio good terrorists he spoke during a high level week at the u.n. here in new york in a security council meeting he says the pandemic is a clear test of international cooperation a test we have essentially failed he said the death toll was the result of a lack of global preparedness cooperation unity and solidarity would you agree i fully agree but what you mentioned and what secretary-general gutierrez set about the u.n. and not achieving all the goals that he would like them to achieve. but let's be proud of what we achieved and realize that there are again in this time children hungry living in a situation of war and that it is our obligation to make the un to make international organisations work as best as we can when it comes to covert knowing

team that as we say is the big task let me just give you an example of where things in the u.n. system don't seem to working it took the u.n. security council over 3 months to agree a simple security council resolution on live on wrists and to agree with the idea that the secretary general put forward that the should be a global ceasefire why does it take 3 months to agree with things that surely if you are the premier body dealing with international peace and security should be something you agree with straight away. there are a number of reasons there to answer your question why decision taking in the security council is so difficult even in indication of a global pandemic but ben demick indy's days also becomes politicized and barto full of international power play nevertheless we see international cooperation

for instance countries been doing together in providing aid in working to get our own developing facts hints and i want to put all my energy and efforts in making d. international corporations that were death of her possibilities to flourish in fighting to spend that make and not just let myself be completely blocked by what is not working. that blockage at the beginning seems to be mainly a spat between china and the us now the e.u. broadly still supports the world health organization the us has pulled out of the world health organization do the u.s. have a base of a point on this with regards to china that the world health organization has a china problem because it seems to be that world health organization officials seemed very reluctant to criticize china. we asked health

organization to do a thorough and. impartial investigation into into the start of the bend into to measure a step that different countries and international organizations have taken and know god terror reasons to be critical of things that happened in this procedure but where i don't agree with us is dead stepping out of rules health organization decision making organization better and we need in a pandemic cooperation more than ever we need to inform each other about different for your facing about what works and what distant work so also told directly to my u.s. france. i understand a lot of your criticism but but leaving the team is never a solution for a team that doesn't play well we have to improve the team now the route between

china and the u.s. goes way beyond coded 19 how worried are you about it how damaging is it and could it be the beginning of a new cold war. i am worried about. rising tensions between the u.s. and china. because 'd we are not afraid to speak out openly about things that we don't agree with i recently had had a very open meeting with him my chinese colleague here in the hake where i spoke out in favor of the we were community and. civil liberties in hong kong. a muscle very open about to defect that the ditch companies face. intellectual property issues whenever day operate within china i want to be very open when that's necessary at the table same time i believe that

we should engage with china on debt we should in order to avoid what you mentioned a possible new a cold cold war. look for solutions to get her for instance we do cooperate strongly in the field to fighting climate change which is a global issue there are very beneficial corporations in the business world in the scientific world. we need to create more common interests in order to avoid to do world breaking up into parts you are the foreign minister i know not to finance minister but i'd like to draw on your background a little because you used to work in finance you used to work in banking as you look at the global recession the world is facing what are your fears how last thing do you think this will be a lesson from the past is debt international traits and movement of people as soon

as the pandemic will allow it to get in if it is essential for international prosperity so we should not full back into protectionism and we. it take to write economic measures with which for now means. spending to support economy in our countries but also work together to to help countries in a more dire situation you say that you should work to help countries in a more dos situation but already within the european union you have had disagreements you'll one of the countries the so-called frugal 4 along with austria sweden and denmark is there at home there in the netherlands a reluctance to keep bailing out of the e.u. members. it's fairy much part of the public debate. especially what steps should be connected to helping fellow european

countries. dutch public feels itself very much a gates in europe we are in the midst of it 3 part of it we are trading country you are an open country we want to be part of the european union at the same time in netherlands we've taken really tough measures during the financial creases crisis for instance raising pension h. ordinary dutchmen will have to work till 6768 so did the question people ask here is if we help other european countries do to also work till 6768 to do they also take measures to to keep their economy competitive i think that's a that's a fair question because you want to get out of it stronger for the whole of europe i think to agreement we reached it during the july summit waltz a fair agreement because it contains both help for the most affected countries but

also to commissioned to reform their economy in order to come out of the crisis storm for the netherlands with these sorts of disputes financial disputes in the before brett says when you have the u.k. another g 7 country in you'll call it fighting the same arguments as you indeed we we dearly miss our british friends. of course we respect the outcome of of their u.k. referendum but that is a divorce we did not ask for that also means that the netherlands plays an even more active role in fighting for what we stand for forming coalitions with treats are coalitions of different european countries because we want to fight for what he think is important not only in the field to finance and economic but for instance also with regard to the rule of law and human rights. 2 years ago your country was serving only u.n. security council the u.n.

security council is still dealing with the off to my office of what was known as the arab spring particularly in syria in libya and in yemen when you look what's happened in syria today and no one is keeping count there are somewhere between 200008 half a 1000000 people killed how do you think that history will judge the u.n. and the security council in particular during our term in the security council and in the netherlands together with a lot of other countries frequently us the security council to acts. for instance to to revert. mr r. and then the syrian leadership to the international criminal court to open the country for humanitarian help and i'm afraid you're right. it waltz. actually impossible to take such steps so dare history they will

rightfully be very critical of what has been achieved so far. that was an important reason pied netherlands decided to holt's the syrian government responsible for international law for violation of human rights and especially. the file nation off the international treaty against torture is that it's all coming to your new proposal and what you're doing in just a moment but i'd just like to explore a little bit longer your time there on the security council and i personally remember one speech where you held up a picture of a little 7 year old girl nor i suppose she'd be about 10 years old now someone who like many young syrians has never seen anything but conflict in her country can i ask you as one of those ministers whose countries were serving on the security council what it was like going to those syria meetings it must have been incredibly frustrating. it was incredibly frustrating you know you are completely rights

because before you go to a meeting of course you have an expectation about what the outcome will be and it's expectation most realistic look not very hopeful at the same time you realize that the fact that you are as a country member of a security council means you have to possibility to speak up for it is this little girl noor and all the little boys or girls like her and that therefore you should speak up for her now i interrupted you was when you came up with the netherlands his new proposal new action on syria can you explain to us how this is going to work do the last couple of years the netherlands work to get a written number of countries to assemble evidence on their horrible and misdeeds suffering that has been taking place and is still taking place in syria so we have

a lot of of witness accounts of that tape recordings of what has been going on there what people have experienced and we want to use this evidence to hold those people responsible in the in syria. to hold them to a couch as the most logical way refer to the case to the international criminal court in the hague was not possible because the un security council couldn't agree on it we were looking for baath weights and we found is the international treaty against torture both syria and netherlands are party to destry t. and this gives us the possibility to hold syria responsible for history to which means that we now want to start talks with them. and in those storks we will also them to take their responsibility. we hope of course the thought of talks will be

successful but if not we can refer to case to the international court of justice here in the hague so the international court of justice like the international criminal court is based where you are in the hague that would be a very long winded process wouldn't it it went to the international court of justice international a judicial procedure stake along. but we know from history to take can be successful in indeed we have that it did to prouty presence in the lives of a number of international courts one of them used to be to you were slaves yarra court and number of the highest ranking officials have been tried and convicted here in the hague for the crimes they committed in the former. slave. this is incredibly important to to to survive for us to relatives of victims it's also

important to. make it possible to work on the future because you need justice you need to open ness about what has happened to make it possible to reconstruct a society and a country and that's why we firmly believe that we have to stick to its step in syria it is necessary for to fix them and their relatives but it is also necessary to make it possible to rebuild a new syrian society. i understand that the step you're proposing is a step towards accountability but let me just bring up the downside which is that it doesn't cover any specific case and it wouldn't be a criminal trial of those who were responsible no one would actually be in the dock if it went to the international court of justice some are right. if you 'd are completely right dead. treaty we are using as the foundation for our legal

step and knows only states as relevant barky says so not persons. if. the case might be brought to international court of justice and the ruling would indeed be dead as syria would have to take its responsibility it would offer this and all of our say involved the possibility to step for instance to the security council again and sader is a ruling here by one of the most high ranking international courts that that we all recognize that says steps should be taken to hold those responsible in syria to account in the assad regime the name says it all one man has ultimate power up to shell bashar al assad do you think in your heart of hearts that he will ever face justice because his father half is on our side was responsible for

a huge appalling human rights abuses and he never appeared in the court i already referred to a court that we. hosted here in the netherlands and very important leaders on all sides. toward it took place there has been tried and convicted here in the hague and debt shows how difficult it may be dead an international quote can be successful now it can of course only be success. fall if somebody is willing to start the lengthy procedure as face the criticism that that's unavoidable when you take such a step there is no guarantee of success but there is a guarantee of failure if nobody takes a chance that if we turn to the diplomacy on syria very much in the front seat on this now russia and turkey they've been running this so-called a stone up process and i could say the same thing about libya they have

a key players in libya potentially i could even talk about the conflict between armenia and azerbaijan but again turkey and russia of the key player is europe and the us seem to be in the back seat does that worry you that western countries seem to be losing that influence that traditional influence in the middle east does some worry me and that means that i'm strongly in favor of in the effect if united e.u. foreign policy and because the e.u. is very strong economic power a bit also and a combination of nations that upholds the rule of law and the importance hopeful if you interacts. that doesn't mean that together we have a strong army and then the force that comes with it but then dismay in debt we are

an extremely interesting party to work and trade with also for turkey also for. and that means that widget that we should engage with is the dissipation in libya which which actually do european union does and where we sometimes luckily see some of the debt means that that we have to engage in that which are about things that we agree on and which things that we don't agree on and. i'm a very strong supporter. within the european community of acting together in the fields of foreign affairs libya perhaps isn't a good example of european foreign policy because you've had certainly it's early in france pursuing very different policies and isn't the problem with an alliance yes there's strength in numbers but i know for a terran country has one man in control to make very swift and clear decisions

within the law and so you take a lot of time to decide what your policy is and you can't have a particularly strongly focused policy because there remain different interpretations among 27 different member states you're completely right that brought alliance brings a lot of complications and the strength of the alliance that if you involve a number of countries it's also the weakness these issue making it's very complicated but once you take it in and you have to whole with all these countries behind you and if we are willing to stand together and make it make clear to 2 countries. around to us that we are willing to engage with them. but we want them to add here to international law to respect human rights but if they do that we want to work to get or we can still be influential another on going test to e.u. foreign policy is the situation in the rue softer rigged election by alexander

lukashenko i'd like to ask you what the you should do there i know you met spent law mature enough sky the opposition leader recently what's it what all the next steps and is president bush and co in your view still image of president of that country my meeting with mrs. last week and made me even more motivated to make clear to their current governor mans of our roofs debt's d.e.u. does not accept the outcome of the presidential elections and this indeed means that we do not now recognize the president lukashenko as the legitimate president because the people of baylor reuss these are for full support in their wish for a fair and independent election it's. and as long as this isn't the

case dear p union suit imply sanctions 2 words dose people debt mishandled the elections and even worse mishandles peaceful protesters are responsible for torture in the presence. i realized that the european union took a long time to agree on the sanctions but the time i'm glad that. this week we agreed told it and thereby show deaths of basic human rights to right to free demonstration and right to chose your own president that the trial nation will not go unpunished mr minister thank you for around the world stuff blog foreign minister of the netherlands thank you for talking to al-jazeera it was a pleasure to be with you.

he began with a move and to put it just here i can't show i fall down i felt like i was that the documentary filmmaker once wanted unconditional assigner contrasts his experiences with those seeking refuge today and intimate you know what the consequences of the policies of detainments is really on that's the sort of illness misery they cannot absorb this number that people have to suffer and in this way it is unacceptable and refugees take on to 0.

to 0. with every. tool he now global community we are having this conversation elbow. health crisis that what response that looks like people. out of the debate if you're nietzsche if you can jump into the conversation right away when no topic is off the table you're not afraid of anyone taking power we just poured what. you says 3 targeting richer and the poor getting poorer it's not kill destroy the system it's just a look at the system and a modern world this street on out is the era. revealing

eco friendly solutions to comeback threats to off planet on al-jazeera. this is al-jazeera. i 200 hours g.m.t. here and i'll just iran come all santamaria welcome to the news our spikes in covert $9000.00 cases across europe and in the u.k. have governments scrambling to figure out just how to bring those numbers back down again was 6. also in the news deadly clashes continue in the going

to cut off while russia and turkey argue over how to when the conflicts.