Dutch municipalities increasingly setting demands for which asylum seekers they take in

Dutch municipalities are increasingly setting requirements for which asylum seekers they’re willing to shelter. They’d rather take in women and children, and not single men, unaccompanied children, or people from “safe” countries, NRC reports based on its own research. That’s discrimination based on nationality, age, and gender, experts pointed out to the newspaper.

NRC found these stipulations in contracts between municipalities and the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA). Municipalities that set such requirements include Rotterdam, Huizen, Maassluis, Zaanstad, Meppel, and Oirschot. They say they set such conditions to ensure the reception runs smoothly. “The target group restrictions have been agreed to prevent unsafe and restless situations at the reception locations,” a spokesperson for the municipality of Rotterdam told NRC.

Desperate as it is to find reception locations for asylum seekers, the COA often has to agree to these demands, a spokesperson reluctantly acknowledged to the newspaper. “We have to do something,” they said. “Otherwise, people will sleep outside.”

According to experts, municipalities can’t just refuse asylum seekers based on where they come from, how old they are, or their gender. “The government must not discriminate. By making these distinctions, the government does,” Peter Rodriguez, professor of immigration law at Leiden University, told NRC. In the worst case, all municipalities will refuse to take in people from countries the Netherlands considers “safe,” Rodriguez said. “And those people will end up on the street.”