The government does not take good care of children and young people in asylum care. This is the conclusion reached by the Justice and Security Inspectorate (JenV) and the Healthcare and Youth Inspectorate (IGJ). The institutions are calling on State Secretary Van den Burg of Asylum Affairs to intervene. “The longer this situation lasts, the more damaging it can be to their development.”
Due to the lack of proper care for minors, they experience stress and in some cases violence. They also have insufficient access to care and education. The inspectorates wonder whether the measures announced last Friday are sufficient to solve the problems. This is how a national crisis organization team created to improve the reception of asylum seekers.
Due to the pressure on the asylum reception, the staff cannot provide adequate reception and guidance than they should. Little has improved, despite warnings from the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) two months ago. The inspectorates now write that the shelter is “in a state of crisis” and only continues to run thanks to the “enormous efforts and enthusiasm” of the employees.
Poor hygiene and robberies
At the moment there are more than 10,000 minors in asylum reception, 1450 of them are without parents or chaperones. Nearly 2,400 young people should have already lived in a normal home because they have had residence status for more than fourteen weeks. “And hundreds of them have been waiting for over a year.”
The inspectorates visited various asylum seekers’ centers. For example, they saw that children and young people often stay for months in the application center in Ter Apel instead of the prescribed three to ten days. And all this time often without care and education.
The single youngsters cause nuisance and there is a restless atmosphere between different groups in Ter Apel. Because there is no capacity to perform room checks, hygiene deteriorates. It is also no longer eaten together because the dining room is not suitable for the large group.
At the time of the inspections’ visit, Ter Apel had three times as many unaccompanied minors as is normally intended. There was a lack of “time and continuity in the guidance. This while these minors are extra vulnerable. Some cannot stand up for themselves, are robbed or threatened with all the consequences that entails.”
‘Strong but recognizable conclusions’
The Dutch Council for Refugees speaks to the ANP news agency of “recognizable but nevertheless strong conclusions”. According to the refugee organisation, the conditions for children and other vulnerable groups in the overcrowded asylum seekers’ centers and emergency shelters in particular are completely unsuitable.
“We see children every day who no longer want to eat and who even have symptoms of malnutrition. Children also regularly fall asleep during class because of fatigue complaints. If children have not already suffered trauma in the country they fled, or on the journey here , there is a considerable chance that they will gain them here in the (emergency) shelter,” says a spokesperson for the Council for Refugees, who also calls on Van der Burg to intervene.
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