ANP extension
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Groningen Mayor Koen Schuiling is concerned about the Ter Apel enforcement center. “We have not yet created more reception places and no more recording centers”, he says in the Radio 1 non-profit program This is the day.
At the moment it is quiet in Ter Apel, but in the summer hundreds of asylum seekers slept outside due to a lack of reception places. “I’m not at all reassured that we won’t have a situation like this again in 2023,” says Schuiling.
The distribution law, also known as the compulsory law, is to ensure that municipalities can be forced to accept asylum seekers. State Secretary Van der Burg wants the law, which has been repeatedly postponed, to take effect on January 1.
Schuiling fears that steps cannot be taken in time to prevent a situation like last summer. Apart from that, he wonders if there are enough people available to implement the law. It’s not just about the places themselves and the people who work there, but GGDs, mental health care and policing are also important to enforcement centres.
‘Lampedusa’
Schuiling compared the situation in Ter Apel in April this year with the Italian island of Lampedusa, known for its poor conditions for migrants.
The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) has already criticized the effectiveness of the distributive law for reception problems. According to the COA, the consequences of the distribution law will not be apparent until 2024.
