VIOLENT RESISTANCE AGAINST DEPORTATION ASYLUM SEEKERS

In the upcoming three years almost 26 thousand Dutch asylum seekers that did not get a residence permit have to return to their country of origin. If they do not go voluntarily, they are obtained from their house and are transported to departure centres. If the deportation does not work, they will be turned out into the street. For the municipalities it is now prohibited to offer relief.

The Dutch cabinet agreed on this plan from Minister Verdonk for Integration and Alien Matters. Already this trimester the Dutch will start with the execution of the new policy, which is supported by a majority in the House of Commons. The cabinet also agreed with the proposal of Verdonk to grant a residence permit to 2334 asylum seekers. Of them 2097 can remain in the Netherlands on the basis of one-off pardon regulation. Verdonk rejected more than 9500 requests. In April 2001 a new very strict Dutch alien law became effective causing a serious decrease in the number of asylum seekers arriving in the Netherlands .

A lot of native resistance is expected when asylum seekers are taken from their homes or from the reception centres to be send back to their country of origin. This is predicted by refugee organisations and action groups. 'Such a commotion as one sees now, I have never observed before', says to director of one of the religious refugee organisations. These organisations are approached continuously by worried citizens. P anic-struck asylum seekers say they will not leave and members of one of the 400 Dutch refugee action groups say they will do everything in their power to keep the asylum seekers in The Netherlands.

 Minister Verdonk called the new return policy ' ambitious ', but predicted that ' many people in the Netherlands will be glad with this clear policy '. She said: 'We are finally going to make place'. Other say the complete opposite. The pardon agreement should count for people that are waiting longer than five years, but there are cases were families are already in The Netherlands for nine years and are still waiting for a verdict. Many of the asylum seeker children are born in the Netherlands are well integrated and speak fluent Dutch. more features

January 26, 2004