Inhumane conditions in a refugee camp in the Netherlands

During his visit to the reception and registration center for asylum seekers in Ter Apel, Groningen province, Efe was able to confirm the inhumane situation that emerged. The Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) have been filing complaints for weeks.

Women (some pregnant women) and children enter the center to wait for enrollment, but men of different ages lie on the floor in crowds to wait.sleeping in the open, some under white tents, some right under the shimmering clouds, remembering that the good weather is over, will be worse than in July and August.

Among their nationalities From Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Iraq and Yemen to Eritrea, Sudan and Uganda, they do not want to share their names for fear it will affect their asylum process and the stories behind each face. escape, human trafficking, slavery and abuse at the hands of the mafia are summed up in months, even years.

An elderly Palestinian tells Efe “The pain of escaping bombs again as a refugee Syria”; several young gays describe how they sought freedom in the Netherlands “because their personal situation did not allow them to live in Uganda”; Fadua, 39, has just arrived in Ter Apel on a flight from Beirut and is “deadly afraid of the situation”, so she hopes to leave for a shelter soon with her three children.

“I’ve been going from one country to another for three years”

25-year-old Yemeni Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Niger, Algeria and MoroccoWhere he tried to cross into Spain 28 times and lost his friends on the way. “I crossed a small boat, but it wasn’t the worst. I have been traveling from one country to another for three years. “The worst part was being imprisoned in Libya, being a slave and thinking I was going to die there,” he says.

Most of the refugees MSF has helped since Thursday Suffers from wounds, injuries and skin problems due to lack of hygiene, including cases of scabies and infections of all levels, But the volunteers also met many people who needed medication for chronic illnesses.

“The situation remains the same: bad. It’s not the conditions you want people to be in, there are no proper shelters or blankets. It will be colder, it will rain, and we are already starting to see health problems. People are in an inhumane state. This should not be the case in any country, but less so in a European country like the Netherlands, MSF spokesperson Monique Nagelkerke told Efe.

Also, Health Inspection (IGJ) death of a three-month-old baby on Wednesday In a sports center used as an emergency shelter in Ter Apel.

This is the first time MSF has seen itself in this area. The need to deploy a team to assist refugees in the NetherlandsIt is the fifth largest economy in the Eurozone.

MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld wrote in a letter to the European Commission “Ter Apel is Dutch Moria” He stressed that it is against European law. MSF spoke of “living conditions similar to those they have seen in places like Moria”.

700 people outdoors

nowadays, About 700 people spent the night outside waiting to register at this reception centre.

Ter Apel is the start of an official asylum application in the Netherlands, which should ideally take a few days, but in practice it takes up to three months, according to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND).

Dutch Government has been receiving complaints about the situation for weeks and asked different municipalities to offer temporary accommodation for refugees, but especially Widespread housing shortage in the Netherlands. It is now negotiating with municipalities to invest more funds to alleviate the situation.

The added problem is that thousands of people Obtaining a residence permit in the Netherlands, as well as staying in centers for asylum seekers due to lack of accommodation.

In addition, the Center for Receiving Asylum Seekers Agency (COA) is struggling with staff shortages. an absenteeism that nearly doubles the national average, not so many employees in the IND who register and evaluate asylum applications.