Amnesty International and Vluchtelingenwerk Nederland are both concerned about the fate of Bahraini asylum seeker Ali Mohammed Al-Showaikh. The Netherlands deported him to the Gulf nation of Bahrain in October and he was arrested upon arrival, RTL Nieuws reports.
According to the human rights organizations, there are strong indications that Al-Showaikh was abused or even tortured, and that he was forced to sign a confession.
With New Year's Eve right around the corner, authorities decided to quickly move forward with the arrests of several suspects allegedly preparing a terrorist attack, according to broadcaster NOS. Normally, an investigation into similar suspects could take months, but in this case police were tipped off just days ago, NOS reported.
A Dutch-flagged ship that rescued 32 migrants from a sinking boat near Libya is still looking for a harbor where the migrants may enter and be processed as possible refugees. The Dutch Justice and Security ministry is trying to help find a port for Sea-Watch 3, part of the German organization Sea-Watch.
But Sea-Watch claims that the Netherlands was one of the countries refusing to allow the ship to enter.
A number of Dutch scientists are concerned about the well-being of children who are deported from the Netherlands after living here for years. The deportation of these children can have major consequences for their brain development and is therefore irresponsible, Erik Scherder, professor of clinical neuropsychology at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, said in a report written with two lecturers from the University of Groningen.
A large majority in the lower house of Dutch parliament supports the government's intention to sign the United Nations' new migration pact next week, was revealed in a debate on the matter on Tuesday.
In addition to coalition parties VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie, the pact is also supported by GroenLinks, PvdA and DENK, NU.nl reports PVV, 50Plus, SGP and FvD are against the pact. They fear that migrants may derive new rights form the pact. PvdD and SP are still considering.
Up until October 1st, the Dutch immigration and naturalization service IND paid over a million euros in penalty payments to asylum seekers and refugees this year due to too slow procedures. That amount is likely to quadruple by the end of this year, because thousands of claims have not yet been handled, the Volkskrant reports based on figures from the IND.
VVD party leader Klaas Dijkhoff is facing furious reactions on the way he responded to a 9-year-old boy telling him how afraid he was to be deported to Iraq. When the child told him that he thinks death waits in Iraq, the Liberal parliamentarian said: "Yes, well", RTL Nieuws reports.
The Rotterdam-Beverwaard asylum center will stop taking in asylum seekers from safe countries following a number of incidents involving such asylum seekers in the center, Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb wrote in a letter to the city council. This halt is being implemented in agreement with the COA, the central agency for the reception of refugees, RTL Nieuws reports.
Between April and August of this year, there were a total of 20 incidents in the asylum center, Aboutaleb wrote. "In the period from mid-August to the present, this number has increased to 69 incidents."
The approach to human trafficking in the Netherlands improved considerably in the past years, but many victims are still invisible to aid agencies, National Rapporteur on Human Trafficking Herman Bolhaar said on Thursday - the European day against human trafficking, NOS reports.
According to Bolhaar, only one in five victims end up on the radar of CoMensha, the coordination center against human trafficking. Current estimations say that between 5 and 7 thousand men, women and children fall victim to human trafficking in the Netherlands each year.
A man set himself on fire in front of a bed-bath-and-bread shelter for asylum seekers on Helsinkistraat in Groningen on Thursday. The man, a failed asylum seeker, was rushed to hospital with burns, Dagblad van het Noorden reports.
The shelter, located in a former F1 hotel, is managed by the Inlia Foundation. It offers shelter to asylum seekers who have exhausted all legal remedies and have to prepare for their return to their home country, and asylum seekers awaiting a decision in their procedure.
The Netherlands will grant asylum to 27 White Helmet rescue workers evacuated from Syria, in the midst of an offensive by the Syrian regime, in July. The White Helmets coming to the Netherlands are five families and three individuals, NRC reports.
The number of reports of foreign men being forced into prostitution in the Netherlands doubled over the past year. The victims are often asylum seekers and refugees picked up by human traffickers, according to research by Radio Reporter, NPO Radio 1 reports.
A 38-year-old Afghan refugee who was convicted of raping an 18-year-old woman with a slight mental impairment in 2016, received a lower sentence from the court in Amsterdam to prevent him being deported, the Telegraaf reports.
The Public Prosecutor demanded 2 years in prison against Zaman S. for the rape. But the court ruled that the sentence must not have the consequence that he is deported, according to the newspaper.
It is "precisely the intention" that not many child asylum seekers qualify for the children's pardon, State Secretary Mark Harbers of Justice and Security said in a debate about Lili and Howick on Wednesday. The two Armenian kids were set to be deported on Saturday, after living in the Netherlands for 10 years, but got an exemption at the last minute, AD reports.
The Amsterdam city council wants asylum children who've been living in the Netherlands for more than five years, to be able to stay in the country because this is now their home. The council called on Mayor Femke Halsema to ask State Secretary Mark Harbers of Justice and Security to implement a so-called children's pardon, Het Parool report.
The government of Curacao is denying fleeing Venezuelans their international right to asylum, according to a report Amnesty International published on Monday. The human rights organization calls on the Netherlands to intervene, ANP reports.
State Secretary Mark Harbers of Justice and Security received such serious threats regarding the deportation of two Armenian children, that he had to go into hiding last week, sources in The Hague told the Telegraaf.
Around a fifth of the Syrian asylum seekers who are proposed for asylum in the Netherlands through the so-called Turkey-deal, are rejected because of extremist sympathies or because their ideals are not in line with Dutch values, Paul van Musscher, national portfolio holder for foreign affairs and migration crime at the police, said to the Volkskrant.
A Syrian man was sentenced to two years in prison, four months of which conditionally suspended, for trafficking children through Schiphol. Between December 2016 and February 2018 the man smuggled five children from Greece, through Schiphol and into the Netherlands, AT5 reports.
According to the Public Prosecutor, the man himself is an asylum seeker from Syria. He told the court that he wanted to help separated families by bringing their children to them. He called the trafficking an expression of "charity", according to the broadcaster.
An Ugandan asylum seeker who was staying with the nuns of Missionaries of Charity in Amsterdam, was not allowed to return to the shelter after she revealed that she is a lesbian and helped with the Canal Pride Parade. RozeLinks, the GroenLinks branch focused on LGBTQ rights, is organizing a 'lesbian kissing-in' on August 8th, Savanna Koolen of Rozelinks said to Het Parool.
The Netherlands is considering giving shelter to a "limited number" of Syrian aid group the White Helmets, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice and Security said to RTL Nieuws. "Important conditions for this are identification, registration and (security) screening."
A 19-year-old asylum seeker from Dronten drowned in Kampen on Thursday. He disappeared while swimming in the IJssel at around 3:00 p.m. His body was found later in the evening, NU.nl reports.
The young man was swimming with friends. When he was about 20 meters away from the quay, he disappeared underwater and did not come back up. A massive search was launched, involving several emergency services. After a few hours of fruitless searching, a dreg team from Urk was called in to help.
A man was arrested for human trafficking on the N65 near Oisterwijk on Sunday night. He had an Eritrean woman and her two young children in the van with him, Omroep Brabant reports.
A witness noticed something wrong with the van's license plates at around 10:00 p.m. on Sunday and called the police. A patrolling police car was in the area and pulled the van over. The number plates turned out to be falsified.
The Netherlands immigration service IND is making changes to the way they test asylum seekers' sexuality and religion. Currently the differences in cultures sometimes leads to mistakes being made, ANP reports.
