The conditions for minor refugees in the Ter Apel application center are unacceptable. The children are “mentally neglected” and suffer more trauma in the application center. That is what Children’s Ombudsman Margrite Kalverboer says to NRC.
Kalverboer paid a visit to Ter Apel this week. Last weekend, Mayor Schuiling of Groningen also did the same. He came to same conclusion† “Children play among the waste. There are infinitely better sanitary facilities on a festival site,” he said. Schuiling called the situation in Ter Apel “our own Lampedusa”, referring to the Italian island where thousands of migrants have been received in recent years and live in poor conditions.
Nothing has been arranged in Ter Apel for the 113 minors without family, says Children’s Ombudsman Kalverboer. They stay there for a longer period of time without any form of daytime activities or attention. “No education, no activities, no help: nothing. They get to eat and that’s it. Supervisors told me they don’t even wake children in the morning because there is nothing to do anyway.”
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