Minister Faber cuts millions on legal supervision of asylum seekers

Minister Marjolein Faber (asylum, PVV) will cut back on supporting asylum seekers in their legal proceedings. The Vluchtelingenwerk Foundation, which helps asylum seekers with this, was told at the beginning of this month that it will be reduced on the subsidy for this work. She must reduce the support immediately.

According to the chairman of the board Frank Candel, the cutback has direct consequences for the legal protection of refugees, who will soon be more unprepared their asylum procedure.

Until this year, Refugee Work received a subsidy from the government from the government, with a settlement on top that is roughly a doubling of that amount, because many more asylum seekers are always helped than budgeted. This year, Minister Faber announced that the subsidy contains a total of 13 million euros, instead of the 34 million euros that would be necessary to carry out all work.

Vluchtelingenwerk is challenging Faber’s cut in a lawsuit against the state. A request for a provisional provision was submitted to the court yesterday. According to the organization, there is “improper management” because the decision was not taken carefully. For example, a transition period is not provided.

Waiting times

Refugee work (1,500 paid employees, 9,000 volunteers) has its own counter in all asylum seekers’ centers. Everyone who arrives new in the Netherlands is informed by volunteers from the organization. They tell what the asylum procedure looks like, what is expected of them and what rights they have. They answer questions during the procedure. For example, if people do not understand their letters from the IND, or wonder if their application has not forgotten because they do not hear from the IND.

With the waiting times incurred – in an average asylum seekers’ center about two years – Vluchtelingenwerk has spent more and more time on this. On request, the foundation also advises asylum seekers on a legal level and can attend hearing with the IND.

“You can see us as a kind of legal aid store for people in the procedure,” says Candel. If status holders are entitled to family reunification, the refugee work arranges for them. “We help to collect the data and submit the application for them. That saves the IND a lot of work, because it is too complicated for many people to deliver it themselves. ” And otherwise the IND must always continue to point out the applicants to incompleteness.

Part of this support disappears when the cutback continues, says Candel. And “If you remove our guidance, refugees will soon be waiting for two years for a procedure that they don’t understand. And when it is finally the turn of the IND, they probably do not have the good pieces with them, so that the IND will reject them more often. As a result, they will have to go to court more often to get them right. This only ensures the further stuck of the shelter system. “

COA

In a response, the IND endorses that a discount on VluchtelingenWerk can have major consequences for the pressure on the asylum chain. “If Refugee Work stops supervising applicants in the asylum procedure, then that has an impact,” the IND spokesperson said by e-mail. “For applicants, the listening ear of a contact person at VluchtelingenWerk is very valuable. If the Refugee Work no longer fulfills this role, the IND will get more questions. ”

The IND will also have to take over the information role of Vluchtelingenwerk if the cutbacks continues, the spokesperson states. “That requires more from our employees and means more work for the IND. We attach great importance to the cooperation with Vluchtelingenwerk in the asylum process ”.

Asylum lawyer Flip Schüller calls Vluchtelingenwerk “the lubricating oil in a stuck ash system”. “The refugee workers signal it when a child no longer pulls it, arrange an extra room if the tensions within a family increase, or help them find a document,” says Schüller. “While the COA is only busy with logistics and the IND with the procedure, Vluchtelingenwerk brings a bit of humanity into shelter.”

Candel does not yet know what the cutbacks means for the organization. “I really don’t know what to do,” says the chairman of the board. “I need money to dismiss people. But if I use the money for that, I can no longer do the work for which we are paid. We are in danger of ending up in a vacuum that can no longer be achieved. “

Ministry

Candel has asked the Ministry of Asylum and Migration for a transitional period and a plan to transfer tasks that are still being carried out by Vluchtelingenwerk to IND or COA. “They understood that wish,” says Candel. “But I have not received a message to date. I have the impression that Minister Faber is not willing to make such agreements. “

Minister Faber confirms that legal proceedings has started and says through her spokesperson: “I am going to reduce the subsidy for Vluchtelingenwerk Nederland. I am still discussing the Nederland Vluchtelingenwerk about the further reduction. ”

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