Dutch Asylum Policy Under Scrutiny

A big debate about the Dutch asylum system opened in 2013, following the suicide of the Russian dissident Alexander Dolmatov. The Socialist Party Parliament Member Sharon Gesthuizen strongly questioned the effectiveness of the Dutch asylum policy, as well as its inhumanity.

Asylum seekers held in detention centres in Rotterdam and at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam have held hunger strike protests against a dysfunctional asylum Dutch policy.

Immigration detention in the Netherlands is criticised for the circumstances immigrants are held in, which is often worse than that of criminal detainees, especially because of the lack of probationary leave, rehabilitation assistance, legal assistance, laws restricting the maximum detention time and a maximum time for judicial review from a judge.

According to the latest statistics of the ministry of Justice, around 100,000 people live undocumented in the Netherlands. 45,000 people of this group are asylum seekers whose application has been rejected. Around 10,000 people voluntarily return to their country of origin, because they cannot manage any longer to live on the streets.

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