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Netherlands: Screw tightens on refugees

01 November 1997

The Dutch government is aiming to tighten the rules for people claiming asylum in the Netherlands. Under new proposals people who arrive without valid papers will have to prove that they did not deliberately destroy them in order to avoid being deported to their country of origin.

According to junior Justice Minister Schmitz those who enter the Netherlands without papers will still have their cases considered. Under present legislation, the Ministry of Justice has to prove to the courts that an asylum seeker without papers lost or destroyed them. The new legislation will place the onus on the asylum seeker to prove that they did not destroy their papers in order to slow down the deportation procedure. This will require a change in article 15c of the Vreemdelingenwet (Aliens Law). Asylum seekers who cannot demonstrate that they did not deliberately lose or destroy their papers will be deported immediately under the new law. The proposals follow an increase in the number of asylum seekers coming to the Netherlands without papers - over 70% according to government statistics.

This is not the only change planned by the government. Dutch embassies in countries through which asylum seekers travel to the Netherlands will be supplied with immigration officials who will check that those applying for residence under rules which allow asylum seekers to be reunited with their families are genuinely related to them. The government's new proposals follow a parliamentary debate in which a majority supported opposition proposals calling for deportations to be speeded up along these lines. Over 23,000 asylum seekers came to the Netherlands between January and October 1997, as compared to under 16,000 in the same period last year.

NRC Handelsblad Weekeditie, 25.11.97.