Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
Red Cross tents at the Ter Apel asylum application center, 11 May 2022
Red Cross tents at the Ter Apel asylum application center, 11 May 2022 - Credit: Red Cross / Red Cross - License: All Rights Reserved
Politics
asylum seeker
Ter Apel
asylum application
Ministry of Justice and Security
Red Cross
asylum shelter
Eric van der Burg
Marieke van Schaik
Thursday, May 12, 2022 - 12:00
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

Tents set up outside overcrowded asylum center

On Wednesday evening, the Red Cross set up tents at the overcrowded asylum application center in Ter Apel to give asylum seekers a place to sleep. On Tuesday night, dozens of asylum seekers slept outside for several hours because there was no room in the center. The aid organization wanted to prevent a similar situation on Wednesday.

The Red Cross expected that about 200 asylum seekers would have nowhere to go on Wednesday. But the tents turned out to be unnecessary. Groningen managed to arrange emergency shelter for 100 people in Heerenveen, and the rest spent the night in the application center's lobby, according to BNR. 

Nevertheless, Red Cross director Marieke van Schaik called the situation in Ter Apel "an absolute low point" for asylum reception in the Netherlands. The situation in the overcrowded application center, where all new asylum seekers have to report, is "below any humanitarian level and downright unacceptable," she said to BNR. 

Van Schaik called it "distressing" that people have to sleep outside at the asylum application center while "many empty beds" are dedicated to Ukraine refugees. "Municipalities that have not yet done so must now take responsibility. It is time for municipalities to open up available shelter spaces to refugees, wherever they come from. Anyone who asks for asylum in the Netherlands must be treated with dignity."

State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum) said on Wednesday that he expected the severe space shortage at Ter Apel to continue for almost a week. The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) expects about 200 new asylum seekers per day in the coming period. 

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • Effective cancer vaccine for dogs an "important step" for human treatment: Amsterdam researchers
  • Child care in “permanent crisis” with staff shortages in the thousands
  • Councils say young people need to be involved in policy-making
  • Unlikely that Ukraine will become a candidate for EU membership: Dutch PM
  • Monkeypox found in six people in the Netherlands so far, RIVM says
  • Many young people struggling to juggle everything after lockdown

Top stories

  • Monkeypox found in six people in the Netherlands so far, RIVM says
  • Chaotic scenes at Schiphol: 450 flights delayed, 75 flights cancelled amid staff shortage
  • €40 mil. extra to arm vulnerable regions against organized crime
  • Dutch home prices still climbing, but slowing down
  • Body found in burning car in Limburg village
  • Up to three weeks of quarantine after contact with monkeypox patients

© 2012-2022, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Partner content