The Red Cross recently started supporting the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) in receiving Afghans and other asylum seekers who arrive in the Netherlands.
The aid organization says it is seriously concerned about the quality of emergency reception for asylum seekers and the lack of reception locations in the Netherlands. As a result, vulnerable people will soon lack essential access to medical care. “Unsafe situations arise because men, women and children have to stay in large spaces and there is no attention for psychosocial support for traumatized people.”
Sleeping on chairs
A spokesperson for the COA reported earlier today that for the fifth night in a row people had to sleep on camp beds and chairs at the central emergency shelter for asylum seekers in Ter Apel, where all asylum seekers can register when they arrive in the Netherlands. It is expected that the entire month of October will be very tight.
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The COA locations are overcrowded, according to the Red Cross. “The deficit is expected to increase in the coming weeks,” the organization says. The need is now so great that people are even thinking about shelter in tents.
The Red Cross warns that the reception of refugees in the Netherlands is in danger of falling through a ‘humane lower limit’. “People cannot sleep for a long time on camp beds without some form of privacy,” said Marieke van Schaik, the director of the Red Cross. “Or keep being moved from one location to another.”
‘Taking steps towards reception’
Constantly moving house is especially harmful for children, says Van Schaik. “Their safety cannot be sufficiently guaranteed when large groups of people are brought together. There is now only attention for how we can accommodate people. We really need to take steps for a humane reception in this situation.”
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According to Van Schaik, municipalities do not provide enough additional reception locations. “It can’t be the case that essential locations are not used while there are possibilities? This is now an emergency.”
Various Defense locations are currently being prepared for emergency reception. In addition, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) approaches municipalities, hotels and holiday parks for temporary shelter.
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