The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) is about to collapse. This is shown by research by NRC and has been confirmed by COA. Asylum seekers centers across the country are struggling with a lot of staff loss. In Ter Apel, the largest asylum seekers’ center in the Netherlands, nearly one in three COA employees has now fallen out.
According to the COA, it is currently no longer possible to receive asylum seekers in a “humanitarian manner”. The organization indicates that it does not know a solution for the moment. In addition to the high dropout rate among staff, there are also 1000 vacancies. These must be completed before the end of the year. The organization now employs 4,000 people.
Almost a year ago, COA sounded the alarm with State Secretary Van der Burg of Asylum and Migration. It was stated in writing that the reception “threatened to fall below human scale”, “for both residents and employees”.
The Refugees Foundation represents the interests of asylum seekers and announced earlier this month that the work of the COA is seriously inadequate. The foundation says that COA and the government are responsible for poor conditions in the asylum reception and has indicated that it will go to court if the situation has not improved before August 1.
Number of asylum applications doubled in one year
Over the past period, hundreds of asylum seekers slept outside or on a chair in the waiting area at the application center in Ter Apel. This was partly due to a shortage of beds.
In the same period, a record number of people applied for asylum in the Netherlands, Statistics Netherlands reported. In the months of April, May and June, there were at least 7,000 people, which is twice as many as in the same months last year. It is the largest number of applications since 2014.
In the second quarter of 2021, 3340 people applied for asylum in the Netherlands. The influx was low at the time due to the measures against the corona virus, the CBS explains. The year before, just after the start of the corona crisis, there were even fewer applications. In April, May and June 2020, 260 people applied for asylum. But also in the second quarter of 2019, before the corona outbreak, there were fewer applications than now, namely 5190.
The largest group of asylum seekers consists of Syrians. In April, May and June, 2260 people from that country applied for asylum in the Netherlands for the first time. In the same months last year, about 1,000 Syrians applied for asylum. After the Syrians, the Turks follow. The Netherlands received 695 asylum applications from people from that country. This is followed by Afghans (630) and Somalis (300).
In the second quarter, 170 people from Russia applied for asylum. That’s the largest number in CBS data, going back to 2013. It’s almost the same as in all of 2021, when 205 Russians applied for asylum here.
People who receive a residence permit in the Netherlands can also bring their family members over so that they can be reunited with each other. These family members are called relatives. In the second quarter, 3140 people came to the Netherlands in this way. More than 2000 of them came from Syria. That is 21 percent more than in the same months last year. Then Turkey, Eritrea and Yemen follow.
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