Since 2020, the enforcement and supervision location (htl) in Hoogeveen has housed at least thirty underage asylum seekers. These are teenagers who came to the Netherlands without parents (unaccompanied minors). They caused too much nuisance at other shelters and were therefore placed in the special shelter in Hoogeveen.
In that closed shelter, according to NRC there have been at least twenty violent incidents in recent years. For example, one of the teenagers got a spit bag over his head last year after employees had knocked him to the ground because he spat on them.
A minor asylum seeker was also allegedly beaten by an employee for no reason. That employee was sent away, but the COA did not report this to Nidos, the organization that has custody of the teenagers. Nidos can then report this to the youth inspectorate.
The COA admits that it should have made a report in those two cases. According to the organization, the eighteen other cases concerned “non-reportable” incidents. The employees would not have deliberately withheld the incidents, but would not have known that they had to report them.
The Inspectorate does not agree with the COA, they argue NRC. According to the inspectorate, all violent incidents must at least be discussed with Nidos. They can then, if necessary, call in the inspection. That has not happened now. The Inspectorate has therefore asked COA for clarification.
A few months ago concluded the Justice and Security Inspectorate that employees of the reception center in Hoogeveen sometimes used unnecessary violence. State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum) then said that there was no pattern. According to him, the incidents in which unjustified violence was used were exceptional situations that were subsequently investigated.
