Author
Article 18a RVA refers to Article 21 of the recast Reception Conditions Directive to define asylum seekers considered vulnerable.
With regard to the (crisis)emergency locations, the problem with fulfilling special reception needs of vulnerable groups was that medical screening was not consistently and adequately offered in Ter Apel. Therefore, many cases of vulnerable people being place in non-sufficient emergency locations have taken place. For example, someone who had recent breast surgery and back problems and for whom it is not suitable to sleep on a stretcher, a girl with severe kidney disease who needed urgent treatment and heavily pregnant women.[1] The Hague Court of Appeal judgement of 20 December 2022 states that medical screening always needs to be offered and that special needs of vulnerable groups need to be provided.[2]
In the night between 23 and 24 August 2022, a three-months old baby, staying with his family in a sport hall at Ter Apel, died.[3] The Inspections of the Ministry of Justice and Security and Health Care and Youth will investigate whether adequate care is provided and whether the living conditions in Ter Apel caused the death of this baby.
With the exception of specialised accommodation for unaccompanied children, the COA does not provide separate reception centres for women, LGBTI persons or other categories – although there have been calls for their creation. An investigation into the treatment of LGBTI persons and of converts and apostates has been completed in 2021.[4] The researchers conclude that COA does not pursue a target group policy, but that the organization does pay structural attention to vulnerable groups in reception. With regard to LGBTI asylum seekers, the COA has developed a policy to increase the quality of life at COA locations. Special LGBTI attention officers are available at various COA locations to assist LGBTI asylum seekers and to whom employees can appeal. In addition, COA is committed to promoting the expertise of its employees on the topic. The report concludes that, in comparison to the LGBTI policy, there is less attention in reception for converts and apostates and attention to issues connected to religious freedom is still limited. The researchers recommended opening special LGBTI units, but the COA does not consider it a priority. Additionally, were the COA willing to consider their wishes (e.g. having a room for themselves or living in the same building as other LGBTI persons), it is impossible to address them given the current reception crisis.[5]
However, employees of the COA have to make sure that a reception centre provides an adequate standard of living as the COA is responsible for the welfare of the asylum seekers.[6] In practice, this means that the COA considers the special needs of the asylum seekers. For example, if an asylum seeker is in a wheelchair the room will be on the ground floor. Besides that, if asylum seekers cannot wash themselves, they are allowed to make use of the regular home care facilities; the asylum seeker is entitled to the same level of health care as a Dutch national.
Reception of unaccompanied children
In 2022, UAMs were especially affected by the reception crisis. In the COL location in Ter Apel there is space and guidance for 55 UAMs. Throughout the year this location hosted more than 200-300 UAMs. The Ombudsperson for children raised concern on the situation of UAMs in Ter Apel multiple times.[7] After her visit in October 2022, she reported the following:
“During our working visit last Monday, 300 unaccompanied minors were staying in Ter Apel, while there is room for 55. We encountered a group of about thirty boys and two girls who had been staying in the waiting room of the IND for three days. There was no place for them at the centre. They wait all day in their plastic chair and sleep in another identical waiting room at night on a stone floor or on a chair with a sheet and something that passes for a blanket. They look grey with fatigue. They do not have a bed, nor are there sanitary facilities. They don’t eat enough. They brush their teeth with their fingers in the toilet and there is no shower. And what is stress-increasing, there is no one who can tell them how long it will take before there is room for them.”[8]
Both Inspections of the Ministries of Justice and Security, and Healthcare and Youth set an ‘urgent letter’ with concerns to the Ministry on the situation of the children staying in Ter Apel and on emergency locations, stating that health damage, especially mentally, will occur if the situation will not be improved.[9]
In June 2022, the Working Group ‘Child in AZC’ also published a report on the reception conditions of children in emergency locations, titled ‘Emergency at the emergency locations’.[10] The report shows that children cannot find a safe living environment in the emergency shelters or in Ter Apel, neither physically nor socially. Accessibility of health care and education is often lacking and nutrition became a problem since children are not familiar with the provided Dutch food.
In first instance at the court proceeding on the reception conditions initiated by VWN, the court ruled that COA and the government needed to make sure that no more than 55 UAMs would stay in Ter Apel within two weeks.[11] Following this judgement, the Secretary of State made (another) special request to the municipalities to provide locations for the reception of UAMs.[12] Only one municipality responded, providing a hotel that could house 60 UAMs. The municipality stated that it provided the accommodation because of the court ruling.[13] Although confirming the seriousness of the situation of UAMs and the responsibility (and blame) of the government, the court in second instanced decided to squash the time limits that were given to the government in first instance.[14]
Due to the shortage of reception places for unaccompanied minors, UAMs from the age of 17.5 are placed among adults in regular AZC’s or emergency locations.[15] There might also be minors placed among adults if the IND does not believe that they are underage (see also section Application of the Dublin criteria).
Unaccompanied minors from the age of 16 can be placed in the Enforcement and Supervision location (see section above) if they broke the rules.
Unaccompanied children younger than 15 are accommodated in foster families and are placed with those families immediately.
Unaccompanied children between 15 and 18 years old are initially accommodated in a special reception location (POL-amv). Children are guided by their guardian of Stichting Nidos, the guardianship agency, and by the Dutch Council for Refugees. They stay in this POL-amv during their procedure for a maximum of 7 weeks. If their application is rejected, they go to small housing units (kleine woonvoorziening). The small housing units fall under the responsibility of the COA and are designed for children between the age of 15 and 18 years old, often of different nationalities. These small housing units are located in the area of a larger AZC, at a maximum distance of 15km. The capacity of the small housing units is between 16 and 20 children. The total number of children housed in the small housing and the AZC cannot exceed 100.
A mentor is present 28.5 hours a week. If unaccompanied children receive a residence permit, Nidos is responsible for their accommodation.
The COA had accommodated 3,246 unaccompanied children by the end of 2022,[16] more than twice to the number registered at the end of 2021 (1,305).
In June 2022, the IND published a report analysing the high number of UAMs arrivals in 2021.[17] The analysis was only based on figures form EUROSTAT and interviews with IND personnel. The outcome is therefore somewhat prejudiced. In 2021, the Netherlands received 8.6% of the arriving UAMs in the EU, whereas the Netherlands only receives 5.8% of the arriving asylum seekers in the EU. Other member states also saw a high influx of UAMs with even more growth than the Netherlands – for example in Austria, Belgium and Bulgaria. According to the IND personnel, UAMs coming to the Netherlands ‘have the view that it is easier to be granted international protection and to ask for family reunification in the Netherlands’.
In 2022, the Ombudsperson for children also published a report on the duration of asylum procedures of UAMs following a complaint of a UAM whose asylum procedure lasted for 4 years. And recommended that the IND prioritizes asylum requests from UAMs.[18] .
Protection reception locations
Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are extra vulnerable with regard to human smuggling and trafficking. Children who have a higher risk of becoming a victim, based on the experience of the decision-making authorities, are therefore placed in protection reception locations (beschermde opvang). The children are living in small locations, with 24/7 professional guidance available. When a child arrives at Ter Apel, the organisation Nidos decides whether he or she should be placed in the protection reception location, under the responsibility of the NGO Yadeborg, contracted by COA. Their services were inspected by the youth support unit (Jeugdzorg), which led to a report in 2017 establishing that still too many children disappear from these locations.[19] Another research shows that 1,190 UAMs left COA locations without reason (MOB-melding) between 2015 and 2018; 50% of the minors left a protection reception location.[20]
[1] VWN, Third Quickscan, 19 October 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3ZseCuT.
[2] The Hague Court of Appeal (civil department), ECLI:NL:GHDHA:2022:2078, 20 December 2022.
[3] NOS, ‘Geschokte reacties in Den Haag op dood baby Ter Apel, inspecties doen onderzoek’, 24 August 2022, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3XfCAYw.
[4] Regioplan and Free University, LGBTIs, converts and apostates in asylum reception, 6 October 2021, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3nhpc6K.
[5] Reaction by the Secretary of State to the Research on LGBTIs, converts and apostates in asylum reception, 7 December 2021, KST 19637, No 2801, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3tl7JOr.
[6] Article 3 Reception Act.
[7] Kinderombudsman, ‘Nog steeds sprake van kinderrechtenschendingen in Ter Apel’, 7 november 2022, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3Qq9B1U; Kinderombudsman, ‘Brief aan staatsecretaris Van der Burg over onveilige en stressvolle opvang amv’s in Ter Apel’ 10 October 2022, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3GNMzOj; Kinderombudsman in newspaper NRC, ‘Kinderen in Ter Apel worden verwaarloosd’, Andreas Kouwenhoven, 14 april 2022, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3GQWaVt.
[8] Kinderombudsman, ‘Brief aan staatsecretaris Van der Burg over onveilige en stressvolle opvang amv’s in Ter Apel’, 10 October 2022, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3GNMzOj.
[9] Inspectie JenV en Inspectie Gezondheidszorg en Jeugd, ‘Signaalbrief Kinderen in de opvang’, 16 June 2022, available in Dutch at https://bit.ly/3Qqel7I and Factsheet Emercency Locations asylum seekers, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3k2tjVw.
[10] Werkgroep kind in AZC (o.a. UNICEF en VWN), ‘Noodsituatie op Noodlocaties – Quickscan naar de leefomstandigheden van kinderen in de (nood)opvang’, 20 June 2022, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3GRXesl.
[11] Regional Court The Hague (civil department), ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2022:10210, 6 October 2022, par. 7.4.
[12] State Secretary, Letter to municipalities relating to the reception of UAMs, 6 October 2022, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3GSlT00.
[13] Leeuwarder Courant, ‘COA start noodopvang voor minderjarige jongeren in Hotel Aan de Vaart in Appelscha’, 1 November 2022, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3QpUaqC.
[14] Court The Hague (appeal; civil department), ECLI:NL:GHDHA:2022:2078, 20 December 2022.
[15] This was the case from November 2021 – May 2022 and from November 2022 on, see KST 30573, nr. 195, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3VGp9Qb.
[16] COA, “Personen in de opvang uitgesplitst naar leeftijd en land van herkomst”, available in Dutch at:https://bit.ly/3KiETqB.
[17] IND, Analyse instroom alleenstaande minderjarige vreemdelingen, June 2022, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3QqC0Vs.
[18] Kinderombudsman, ‘Rapport ‘Onderzoek naar een tijdige asielprocedure voor amv’s bij de IND’’, 15 June 2022, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3CwgHvV.
[19] Jeugdzorg, De kwaliteit van de beschermde opvang voor alleenstaande minderjarige vreemdelingen Hertoets, September 2017, available in Dutch at: http://bit.ly/2DCmlw0.
[20] APM (Analyseproeftuin Migratieketen) Report on UAMs leaving reception locations without reason, February 2020, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3HR9yXs.