Factsheet ‘Veterans and their missions’ in the Netherlands

Abstract: Under the Veterans Act, which entered into force in 2014 in the Netherlands, a veteran is “the serviceman or servicewoman, former serviceman or servicewoman, or former conscript of the Netherlands Armed Forces, or the Royal Netherlands Indies Army, as well as any former conscripted members of the Merchant Navy who served the Kingdom of the Netherlands in time of war or who took part in a mission to maintain or promote the international rule of law insofar as that mission was designated by order of Our Minister.” Such missions could include the peacekeeping operations of the United Nations, NATO and the European Union. The Netherlands has four main groups of veterans, broken down into the World War II, the Netherlands East Indies, New Guinea and peacekeeping operations.