The Red Cross has opened a service point for asylum seekers at the application center in Ter Apel. They can go there for food and drinks, hygiene products and information.
The application center in Ter Apel has been overcrowded for several months now. As a result, there is no shelter for people who have to go through their application procedure. Asylum seekers sometimes have to wait for hours on a lawn until it is their turn.
Incidentally, the Red Cross more often helps at the asylum seekers’ center with, for example, distributing food and water.
“We are in the forecourt for people who are waiting all day. We want to give people the feeling that they are not left to their own devices,” says Bastiaan van Blokland, spokesman for the Red Cross.
The point is staffed by volunteers from the emergency relief organization. “They walk around and can give first aid”, says Van Blokland. Asylum seekers can go there on weekdays between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
The emergency aid organization wants to see how much need there is for the service point in the next two weeks. A similar point will be made in Amsterdam, where refugee Ukrainians have to report.
The Red Cross previously placed tents in Ter Apel, because otherwise asylum seekers would have to sleep outside. Those tents have been removed again, because it “falls below humanitarian standards”, according to the emergency aid organization.
The security regions have meanwhile opened more crisis spots, such as empty sports halls where camp beds are placed. New asylum seekers are brought there to spend the night.
According to the Dutch Council for Refugees, the reception of asylum seekers remains substandard. They therefore decided to take the Empire to court and thus force a solution.