Author
As laid down in the Aliens Circular,[1] (representatives of) the Dutch Council for Refugees inform asylum applicants about the asylum procedure during the rest and preparation period (see Registration). This can be done either during a one-on-one meeting, or in a group where asylum applicants often do not know each other but speak a common language, generally through an interpreter on the phone. During this information meeting, the asylum applicant will also be informed that the IND may request for their transfer to another Member State under the Dublin Regulation. In such meetings, asylum applicants receive information from the Dutch Council for Refugees on the asylum procedure and on their rights and obligations.
The Dutch Council for Refugees also has up-to-date brochures (last updated July 2023) available for every step in the asylum procedure (for example: the registration phase and the rest and preparation period, the general procedure, the extended procedure, the border procedure and the Dublin procedure). The brochure, explaining the registration phase and the rest and preparation period, is available in 24 different languages, which are based on the most common countries of origins of asylum applicants, namely Türkiye, Syria and Afghanistan.[2] Not all the brochures are available in every language, but all of them are available in the most widely spoken languages, such as Arabic, English, Farsi, French, Somali and Turkish. In addition to these brochures, there are employees of the Dutch Council for Refugees present at the different locations such as the COL, POL and AC’s. At the moment, there are seven different brochures available for asylum applicants, with an additional two brochures that are specifically tailored to unaccompanied minors. The information in the brochures has been coordinated with the IND. The IND and the Dutch Council for Refugees hand out the brochures together at different moments in the asylum procedure.
In the border procedure, the Dutch Council for Refugees informs asylum applicants on the first day of detention as to the procedural steps of this procedure. If needed, asylum applicants can receive additional assistance, for example for the collection of documents or regarding the appeal procedure.
UNHCR verifies the content of the brochure and leaflets of the IND and the Dutch Council for Refugees. The common information forms included in Annexes X to XIII of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 118/2014 are in use.
[1] Paragraph C1/2 Aliens Circular. See also: Dutch Council for Refugees, ‘Voorlichtingsfolders Asielprocedure en de Gezinsherenigingsprocedure’, available at: https://bit.ly/3I9JdFS.
[2] Dutch Council for Refugees, Voorlichtingsfolders over de Asielprocedure en de Gezinsherenigingsprocedure, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/49N56qv.