At least a hundred people in the Ter Apel application center spend the night on a chair. According to the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA), there are no beds available for these people, so they have to spend the night in the recreation room and in the waiting room. A spokesperson for the COA says: against the NOS that “in theory it could be that people have to sleep outside tonight, but I hope not”.
It is not the first time that people in Ter Apel have had to sleep on chairs. The registration center, which has room for two thousand people, has been way too busy for weeks. In May, dozens of asylum seekers even threatened to spend the night outside. At last they were able to go to the waiting room.
Also read: There is no quick solution to the asylum crisis
The fact that it has been too full in Ter Apel for some time is due to the poor flow of permit holders in asylum seekers’ centers to homes. Asylum seekers in the application center are therefore forced to spend the night in Ter Apel for a longer period of time, resulting in a shortage of places to sleep. COA expects that people in Ter Apel will again be faced with a shortage of sleeping places in the coming nights.
In an attempt to unburden the application center, the 25 security regions made 600 extra emergency shelter places available for two weeks. The Security Council wants to see whether another 300 emergency places can be added in the coming period.