VVD wants an asylum seeker center specifically for LGBTIQ+ people in Nieuwegein

The VVD in Nieuwegein wants the new asylum seeker center that is being opened on Newtonbaan in the municipality to become a shelter for refugees from the LGBTIQ+ community. VVD, the largest faction in the Nieuwegein City Council, will call on the mayor and aldermen on Thursday to make the maximum effort to ensure this happens. In the Netherlands, there are no asylum centers specifically for LGBTIQ+ people.

VVD politician Anastasia van der Lugt says that asylum seekers with an LGBTIQ+ background need a safe haven urgently. These migrants are currently being housed in asylum reception centers spread out over the country. They are often the victims of discrimination and threats "with horrible consequences like suicide as a result."

She added, "They came to the Netherlands in the hope of tolerance and understanding, but upon arrival, they find out they are being kept in an environment with their enemies." Germany already has asylum seeker centers specifically for this target group, and Van der Lugt said they are successful.

Nieuwegein has a high level of tolerance and integration and would, therefore, be well-suited to being the first municipality with an asylum center for LGBTIQ+ people, according to the VVD. The party wants the Council to agree with the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) that people from the target group will arrive at Newtonbaan.

The COA does not yet have a specific policy for this. According to the LGBT Asylum support organization, there are now approximately 1,200 LGBTIQ+ people in an asylum center in the Netherlands. This group is probably much larger, but because there is no specific policy, no figures are kept.

There is room for anywhere from 85 to 112 asylum seekers and people are granted refugee status at the asylum reception facility on Newtonbaan. The first asylum seekers are expected at the facility in the middle of the year.

The COA has confirmed that they have no separate asylum seeker centers for vulnerable groups. "Of course, we have a lot of attention for this group. Our employees are trained in identifying problems, and vulnerable people are also taken into account. We then preferably also place others from the target group with them." At the same time, according to the organization, there are LGBTIQ+ asylum seekers "who do not want attention and certainly do not want to be placed in special units."