‘By us others can work and go to school, do not criminalize us’

At Amsterdam Sloterdijk station, around 250 men and women of mainly Filipino and Indonesian descent step into four white buses. Once on the way, the front bus, where the Philippines have mainly entered, are distributed with their own food. If the bus driver opening the microphone and asks in English if everyone wants to clean up their waste and keep the toilet clean, there is laughter. “We are cleaners!”

The buses were arranged by FNV Migrant Domestic Workers, a network of the trade union for migrants who work in cleaning or are household help. Destination: The center of The Hague, where a demonstration takes place this Sunday afternoon against stricter asylum legislation, including the criminalization of illegality. In the buses, FNV Cadembers and their enclosed supporters-in addition to cleaners, mainly nanny’s. Some with papers to work in the Netherlands, some without.

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Few want to talk to the press on the bus. A 37-year-old cleaner who works in an Amsterdam bed and breakfast wants that, but without his name being mentioned. He came to the Netherlands three years ago and stayed, he says. “It is much better here than in the Philippines. I have to work harder for less money.” He has no residence papers, but hopes to find another job, so he can get them. He would prefer to stay here forever. A 31-year-old woman on the bus, working like Nanny in Amsterdam, has the right papers. “I want to support my community. We are not criminals, we work here.”

Asylum measures

Stricter asylum legislation is one of the main goals of the (outgoing) cabinet. During an unprecedented messy mood of the House of Representatives at the beginning of July, the so -called asylum measurement measures Act came through, which must be made more difficult by family and gives asylum seekers fewer opportunities to appeal during their asylum procedure. An amendment from the PVV to criminalize illegality also unexpectedly received a majority. The Filipino undocumented people on the bus on their way to The Hague could therefore be arrested by the police in the future.

The police in the bike who is waiting for the bus at the destination in The Hague is only there to steer the demonstration in the right direction. But a striking number of people from the FNV bus quickly walk to a place where there are no agents.

The Senate will meet on Tuesday about the asylum legislation. The hundred organizations that support Sunday’s demonstration, such as Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam Novib, want politics The Hague to see that “criminalization of migrants and refugees is a bad proposal,” they write on their joint website Stopdeasielwetten.nl.

It is much better here than in the Philippines. I have to work harder for less money

On the lawn in The Hague, near the Malieveld, according to the organization there are around 2,500 people, including many with roots outside the Netherlands. On stage, Brazilian music is made between the speeches and Balinese danced.

There is a discussion about the legislation in politics in The Hague, but this is mainly about an unexpected consequence of the PVV amendment: that helping undocumented people can also be punishable. According to the Council of State, that even meant that giving a cup of soup to a refugee without papers amounts to a criminal offense. The confessional parties in particular seemed to withdraw their required support in the Senate for the entire asylum legislation – also churches and organizations such as the Salvation Army would be hit.

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After the advice of the Council of State, Minister of Justice David van Weel (VVD) wants to adjust the bill in such a way that offering help will no longer be considered punishable. How exactly, that is not yet known. But because the legislation is being amended, it first has to go through the House of Representatives. When the debate about this is taking place is not clear.

Demonstrator with apron

The demonstrators in The Hague prefer the full stricter asylum legislation, but the texts on most protest signs are about the criminalization of illegality. A female demonstrator has an apron with the text: “Do not make your housekeeper a criminal.” And plates made by the FNV state: ‘We help Build the Netherlands. ‘ Five pioneers of FNV Migrant Domestic Workers say in a joint speech, alternating in English and Dutch: “We take care of and clean. We can work by us, to school, study or take care of others again. Do not criminalize us.”

President of trade union FNV cleaning Silvana Feller (“I stand up for legal and illegal cleaners”), would have preferred to demonstrate against the law before. “So many cleaners are needed: there is a big hole. Just legalize these people and fill that hole.” During her speech on stage, she lets everyone chant ‘no one is illegal’.

The key for a majority in both rooms lies with the CDA. The party wrote earlier that illegal stay in the Netherlands is unacceptable, but to be in favor of “criminalizing not working on returning to return as an exhausted asylum seeker”. Although the current proposal goes beyond that, the CDA seems to agree if the law is “adequately repaired”.

‘More fear’

Sjoerd Warmerdam, head of PR and strategy of Vluchtelingenwerk, thinks it is “very painful” that there seems to be a majority for asylum legislation and criminalization. “The entire legislation is bad for the Netherlands: it makes people anxious to go to the doctor. And anxious to work.”

In addition to FNV, Vluchtelingenwerk and the Council of Churches in the Netherlands also speak on stage. But the most attentive ear gets ‘Linette’. She says that “she was used as a slave.” She is one of the 23 Filipino and Indonesian cleaners who would have been exploited by the Amsterdam gym Saints & Stars, as this summer was revealed by Het Parool. She does not use her real name and wears a face mask, because “there is still an investigation.” “If you make our existence criminal,” she says in English, “people will be even more frightened to speak out against abuses like us. It only gives more power to human smugglers and exploiters.”

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