Experts sound alarm over emergency accommodation for child asylum seekers
The Dutch cabinet faces a challenging task. On 1 December, they are expected to present a plan for the accommodation of child asylum seekers at locations where there are adequate arrangements in place for education, healthcare and indoor and outdoor play facilities. Mark Klaassen, Assistant Professor of Immigration Law, discusses this issue in Dutch daily newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’.
The motion tabled by the Dutch House of Representatives calls on the government to develop a plan for better, humane conditions for children living in emergency asylum accommodation. The Dutch NGO Coalition for Children's Rights concluded that the accommodation provided for children living in asylum centres in the Netherlands fails to meet child rights requirements and temporary accommodation is increasingly being extended for short periods of time. These conditions can be detrimental to children's development, reports de Volkskrant.
‘Politicians have a crisis mentality’
Dr Klaassen criticises politicians’ ongoing ‘crisis mentality’ concerning asylum accommodation in the Netherlands. The situation is being treated as a temporary crisis, while the number of asylum seekers is not predicted to decrease in the long term. ‘In any case, asylum centres are not nice places for children to be,’ adds Dr Klaassen. But accommodation designed for that purpose can at least safeguard children’s rights. In this case, the Dutch cabinet is ‘needlessly allowing the unlawful situation to continue’, believes Dr Klaassen.