Refugees are forced to sleep on chairs at the asylum application center in Ter Apel. People at the orphanage in Leeuwarden are protesting the unworthy living conditions. At the same time, the number of asylum seekers arriving in the country is not a record one; in past years, the Netherlands coped with more intensive flows of migrants. There are several reasons for this situation. Let's find out why the country cannot cope with the flow of migrants fleeing wars and famine.
Some statistics. In 2021, 43 foreigners applied for asylum in the Netherlands. This is significantly more than in 2020, but then the flow of migrants was hampered by restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. However, in 2015, at the height of the Syrian crisis, more than 60 asylum seekers arrived in the Netherlands, not the largest number of refugees in the history of the country. Syrians still constitute the largest group of foreigners claiming refugee status. This is followed by North Africans and Turks from among the adherents of the preacher Fethullah Gülen, who was accused by the Turkish authorities of attempting a coup in 2016.
Not all asylum seekers receive it, approximately 40% of applications are rejected. The status is granted to those who are in danger in their homeland, and not to people seeking more comfortable living conditions.
It must be said that the Netherlands is not at all a leader in accepting refugees into the EU. Neighboring Belgium and Germany annually receive a larger number of foreigners - not just in number, but also in terms of the number of inhabitants of these states. At the same time, the number of accepted refugees per total population of Europe is declining. The reason for this is the reluctance to accept refugees from Asia and Africa by the Scandinavian and Eastern European states. True, these restrictions do not apply to Ukrainian refugees - only Poland accepted almost 4 million people from this country.
Ukrainians do not receive refugee status, but are under temporary EU protection. However, their influx also affects the quality of asylum services. There are now over 30 temporary Ukrainian refugees in the Netherlands. But we are talking about the difficulties in accepting refugees in 2022, when Ukraine was considered a safe country and its citizens practically could not count on refugee status in the Netherlands. What reasons influence the manifestation of symptoms of a systemic crisis in providing refugees with the necessary assistance?
Lack of reserves for the reception of refugees
As soon as somewhere in the world there is a war, drought, revolution and other dangerous phenomena, the flow of refugees to prosperous Europe increases. However, European governments, trying to save money, are not preparing for a possible increase in the number of asylum seekers. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees after the Syrian crisis asked to maintain a reserve of places for the reception of refugees. However, this request was ignored, and after a deal with Turkey, many shelters were liquidated. In 2020, the Dutch Secretary of State and the Central Organization for the Reception of Refugees (Centraal Orgaan opvang asielzoekers) seemingly agreed on the preparation of reserve places, but the coronacrisis struck, so these plans remained on paper.
General shortage of housing
Affordable social housing in the Netherlands is in short supply. The government has plans for its construction, but the final implementation of this program is far away. As a result, refugees arriving in Ter-Apel (namely, where applications for refugee status are accepted) are delayed at this reception point. Those who have received the status must move to social housing, and there is not enough of it. Accordingly, the camp works with a large overload, which affects the comfort of the refugees staying there.
In addition, the lack of obligation on the part of municipalities (gemeente) to receive refugees is also a problem. Some chemants accept them, while others do not. Within the Dutch parliament and government, laws are being developed that establish the duty of municipalities to accept refugees. Many politicians think that its adoption is the way to solve the problem of accommodating foreigners who have received refugee status. However, Secretary of State Van der Burg is convinced that forcing municipalities is not a good way to solve this problem.
Find out more news about accepting refugees in the Netherlands on our website.
Publication Date: 10.06.2022
