ANPThe cruise ship the Volendam, where Ukrainians were taken care of
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 19:57
The outgoing cabinet may withdraw the right of residence of a Tanzanian who has fled Ukraine, the court has ruled. The man is one of the so-called third-country nationals who have fled Ukraine, but come from other countries. The government wants them to leave the Netherlands by September 4 at the latest, unless they apply for asylum.
The ruling is important because of the situation of hundreds of other third-country nationals. Initially, they were given the same rights as refugees with Ukrainian nationality, which allowed them to work and find shelter in the municipal shelter for Ukrainians.
More than a year ago, the government announced that this right would come to an end for non-Ukrainians, because the scheme was also being abused. People applied saying they were refugees from Ukraine, but were not.
Municipalities and asylum lawyers sounded the alarm about this situation at the end of July. At that time, only 500 of the 2300 third-country nationals had registered to go through the asylum procedure in the Netherlands. The other people would be told by the IND that they had to leave.
The government itself is about rules
According to the court of Rotterdam, the government may decide for itself who falls under the protection directive and the government may also withdraw that right for people who do not fall under the European rules.
The European rules prescribe that people must in any case be protected if they are Ukrainian, stateless or a third-country national with a permanent residence permit. There is also an option to give people shelter if they do not meet these conditions.
This case concerns a 33-year-old Tanzanian who had a temporary residence permit in Ukraine and fled to the Netherlands after the outbreak of war. His residence permit in that country expired in October 2022.
“The Secretary of State had the power (…) to no longer apply the provision and he has properly motivated why he is using this power,” said the judge. “That means in a general sense that he could end the temporary protection of third-country nationals with a temporary right of residence in Ukraine.”
Appeal
Lawyer Wil Eikelboom, who was involved in this case, says he cannot follow the judge and is appealing against the decision. “If you first bring a group within the scope of such a European protection directive, you cannot then suddenly withdraw it for this group,” he says in a response. “If you give someone a permit for family reunification, you cannot suddenly say: ‘you are not allowed to stay’.”
Eikelboom wanted an appeal anyway. He expects two more rulings on similar cases in the coming weeks. “There will only be real clarity when the Council of State considers this. That will only happen if there are several such judgments, but that will not be before September 4,” he says. “So I fear that it could still lead to chaos if people first have to leave the shelter and the Council of State ultimately rules that they can stay.”
Waiting for Council of State
Refugee Work also says that it will await the verdicts in the other cases – eleven in total – and hope for a quick judgment from the Council of State, the highest administrative court. According to the organization, today’s judge’s ruling “does not correspond to the concerns previously expressed by lawyers, scientists and also Refugee Work”.
Refugee Work: “If municipalities have to remove third-country nationals from the shelter while there is still legal perspective on reversing this decision, then this is a recipe for chaos.”
The organization therefore wants outgoing State Secretary Van der Burg (Asylum) not to stop the scheme for the time being, until there is a ruling from the Council of State. “It is in the interest of both municipalities and third-country nationals themselves that no irreversible steps are taken before the decision of the Council of State. If the State does do this, the State will saddle municipalities with a major problem.”
2023-08-09 17:57:36
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