Counselors appointed to help LGBT asylum seekers in Netherlands

From next month almost all asylum centers in the Netherlands will have a counselor to help lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people living their. These counselors will start on August 1st, the central agency for the reception of asylum seekers COA said to the Volkskrant. These counselors will receive special training and work with the contact persons responsible for security in the asylum centers. A report by the Board fro the Protection of Human Rights and the National Ombudsman recently showed that many LGBT asylum seekers face discrimination or even violence in asylum centers. Gay interest group COC Nederland therefore requested that counselors be deployed to help these people. A number of asylum centers already furnished separate wings for vulnerable asylum seekers.