Two more rulings to keep protecting third-country nationals, one against

There is growing uncertainty about the position of third-country nationals who arrived in the Netherlands from Ukraine since the outbreak of the war there last year. Judges in two separate cases on Friday ruled that they do still have a right to protection in the Netherlands, while another court issued a different ruling saying otherwise. At least three other rulings issued this week were in favor of third-country nationals who sued the Netherlands over plans to continue its policy to stop protecting these individuals starting on Monday.

Despite the rulings and appeals from Dutch municipalities to tread cautiously, Van der Burg for asylum policy said the caretaker Cabinet would press forward with their policy. The Cabinet announced earlier this week that the reception of third-country nationals will end next week, affecting 2,200 legal residents in Ukraine who fled the country. They are not Ukrainian citizens, but rather citizens of other countries who were working and studying in Ukraine. They were allowed to stay in the Netherlands based on the European Temporary Protection Directive.

Several have taken the Netherlands to court to stop the process of being evicted from their refugee shelters. Cases that the Netherlands lost earlier this week will be appealed so that the Cabinet can get more “clarity from the Council of State,” the country’s highest administrative court, said Van der Burg.

In the two cases that appeared in Amsterdam on Friday, the court ruled that European Ministers together agreed to protect these asylum seekers. That protection applies until Europe decides to stop it. The Netherlands can’t terminate the protection by itself, the Amsterdam court ruled.

The Utrecht court made the opposite ruling in the case of a Nigerian man who was studying in Ukraine and fled to the Netherlands when Russia invaded. He had a temporary residency in Ukraine for his studies. The Utrecht court concluded that EU member states “have the freedom” to choose for themselves to end an EU directive. “The Netherlands may therefore end the protection of third-country nationals who have fled from Ukraine,” the Utrecht court ruled.

Van der Burg’s main argument for ending the temporary protection is that third-party nationals contribute to the shelter capacity shortage in the Netherlands. Municipalities are legally obliged to take in other asylum seekers. Van den Burg wants to create more space to do so by no longer sheltering people the government isn’t legally obliged to.

Courts throughout the Netherlands handle immigration cases on behalf of the District Court of The Hague.