Third of Dutch municipalities haven’t accepted a single refugee in last 12 years
Almost a third of Dutch municipalities have not sheltered a single asylum seeker in the past twelve years, TASS reports
As reported by RTV Noord, citing the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers, 111 of the 342 Dutch municipalities have not accommodated a single refugee in more than a decade. Local authorities explain this situation by a lack of places.
At the same time, several municipalities that claim to have no conditions for accommodating asylum seekers have accepted Ukrainian refugees. One of them is the municipality of Rozendaal in the province of North Brabant. Mayor Ester Weststeijn of Rozendaal explained, “When we received Ukrainians, we thought that it would not be long. Asylum seekers are usually admitted for a longer period.”
In mid-January, the Dutch Senate was discussing a law on the distribution of asylum seekers, according to which the central government will have the power to force municipalities to host refugees. According to the authorities, the law is necessary to reduce the load on the single reception centre for asylum seekers, located in the city of Ter Apel. The law will also improve the conditions for people to stay in the country while their applications for refugee status are being considered.
