Amsterdam asylum shelter unsafe for the 100 children living there, NGO reports
The conditions in the asylum shelter on Hogehilweg in Amsterdam are unsuitable for the over 100 children living there, warned Save the Children, an organization that provides psychological support for child asylum seekers. The children are not safe in this shelter, the same one where the suspect in 17-year-old Lisa’s murder and two other sex crimes was arrested, the organization told Parool.
A week after Lisa’s murder, Parool reported, based on resident accounts, that drug deals were happening right outside the shelter, many of the residents spend much of their time under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and there’s only camera surveillance on the ground floor.
“Because there’s no safe outdoor play area nd children loiter in the hallways, they’re exposed to everything that happens there,” Julia Verheul of Save the Children told Parool. “The location also has little daylight and no surveillance due to the lack of cameras. It’s a large facility where many people live close together. This creates a lot of tension. There’s also a lack of hygiene.” According to her, the shelter struggles with bedbugs and infectious diseases spreading quickly.
Save the Children works at around 50 asylum shelters in the Netherlands, and the Hogehilweg location is one of four shelters it regularly reports to the Ministry of Asylum, the agency for the reception of asylum seekers COA, and the municipality. “The children living there are not doing well,” Verheul said. “Children can’t release their energy here and store a lot of stress. As a result, they can’t properly develop their emotional regulation. Some isolate themselves and just stay in their rooms. This causes many long-term problems, such as anxiety disorders and difficulty concentrating.”
The location was opened as an emergency shelter a few years ago when the Ter Apel registration center was so overcrowded that people slept in the grass outside. “We now see that it has become a permanent facility,” Verheul said. “Over 100 children live there, three large classrooms full. That’s impossible for the COA staff, who work incredibly hard. And it is also impossible in an industrial estate next to a metro station, without a safe space for children to play. Inside, they experience all sorts of things. That causes a lot of stress.”
According to Save the Children, locations sheltering children must meet stricter requirements. “That's actually a legal obligation as well. According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, certain requirements must be met and guaranteed. For children, this means, at a minimum, safe and child-friendly shelters where there is sufficient privacy and, in addition to care and education, psychosocial support is provided,” Verheul said. Shelters that can’t provide these minimum requirements should not house children. “But if you look at the bigger picture, not only children, but also adults should not be housed at Hogehilweg."
