The Dutch Ministry of Homeland Security and Justice expects that more than 50,000 people will apply for asylum in the country next year, and the asylum system will be under even greater pressure, the NlTimes news portal wrote on Monday, citing internal ministry documents.
The state asylum agency (COA) already accepts 48,647 people, a third of whom live in temporary shelters, often in unacceptable conditions. According to forecasts, the COA will have to house 52,000 people within two months and 63,000 within a year, but there is also a scenario where it will have to take care of about 77,000 asylum seekers. In addition, a significant number of applicants come from dangerous countries, mainly Syria and Afghanistan, so they can hope for a positive assessment.
The protracted refugee crisis in the Netherlands is aggravated by the shrinking housing market. The problems are most obvious at the registration center in Ter Apel, where for weeks hundreds of people had to spend the nights outdoors due to the center being overcrowded. Unaccompanied minor asylum seekers are currently sleeping on the floor of the center due to the lack of beds. According to the NlTimes, 300 minor asylum seekers are staying in the refugee accommodation in Ter Apel, while its capacity was designed for a maximum of 50 children.
A Dutch court recently ruled that vulnerable groups, including pregnant women and unaccompanied children, can no longer be accommodated in emergency shelters and ordered the state to improve conditions in refugee centers.
According to documents from the Ministry of Homeland Security and Justice, the Dutch immigration office does not have the capacity to process more asylum applications. Budget cuts and labor shortages can lead to asylum seekers waiting years for their applications to be evaluated. According to the ministry, this will result in more and more asylum seekers going to court to speed up the asylum application process. "And this will also put more pressure on the judicial chain," the news portal quotes the ministry as saying.
Source: vajma.hu / MTI
Photo: xpat.nl
