The Court of Appeal in the city of The Hague ruled Tuesday that the Netherlands prioritizes refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine over asylum seekers from other backgrounds and urged Amsterdam to treat them equally.
«The court finds that the state makes an unlawful distinction between refugees from Ukraine and asylum seekers from other countries. Both groups are fleeing war and violence (…) Therefore, the state must treat these groups equally,» it has indicated.
The Dutch Council for Refugees (VWN) filed a lawsuit against the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) in August, arguing that the Netherlands has structural problems in its reception procedure for refugees and asylum seekers.
«(The judge) urges the State and the COA to make every effort to medically examine asylum seekers as far as possible before they are transferred from Ter Apel to another reception place, in particular if that other place is an emergency reception place,» reads the text, which also points to the lack of available reception places.
Thus, the Court of Appeal agreed with VWN and stated in its decision, published on its website, that the reception of asylum seekers «does not currently meet the legal standards» while expressing that, on the other hand, «it is not possible to solve these problems in the short term».
Ter Apel was the scene in August of protests at the reception center for asylum seekers over allegations of serious unsanitary conditions and, above all, the death of a baby in a gymnasium that served as a makeshift shelter for refugees.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
