Security region: situation of Ter Apel application center still worrying
The situation at the application center for asylum seekers in Ter Apel, where it is overcrowded, remains worrying. That is what a spokesperson for the Groningen Security Region said on Wednesday. The security region has already announced that it is considering closing the center.
According to the spokesman, that scenario is “not off the table” and depends on how the influx and outflow of refugees to locations elsewhere will take shape in the coming period. Due to the situation in Ter Apel, among other things, the joint security regions in the Netherlands announced last Monday that they would realize 2000 extra places for asylum seekers in the short term.
Although the municipalities of Haarlemmermeer, Utrecht and Enschede announced this week that they would receive several hundred refugees, it is still very busy in Ter Apel. The night shelter there is calculated at 275 people, but instead that number rises to 700 people.
Risks
Too many people on top of each other creates risks, according to the spokesperson. In the field of public health, for example because infectious diseases can be transmitted. But the lack of privacy can also lead to social tensions. There is also a risk of fire. At the moment, the situation on all three of these points is not the way the security region would like it to be, according to the spokesperson.
Last Saturday, aid organizations already sounded the alarm about the shortage of reception places for refugees from places other than Ukraine. This concerns, for example, people from Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen. If the security region decides to close Ter Apel, new asylum seekers will end up on the street, they warned.
tents
A spokesperson for the Netherlands Council for Refugees said on Wednesday that it is still “overcrowded” in Ter Apel, where people are forced to be sheltered in tents. The organization notes that the threshold for care is very high and that you must be in very bad shape to be able to receive medical help. He expects that very cold weather will not help. “Because of the mild weather, people could still go outside to eat there, for example. They will soon have to do that inside, on a bed.”
Aid organisations, such as the Red Cross and UNICEF, believe that the tents should disappear permanently as soon as the extra shelter places have been created. They call this form of reception inhumane that does not meet “the minimum standard for reception”.
flow
The problems are due to the fact that the flow to the existing 111 reception centers is stalling. They are overcrowded because status holders are often not allocated housing. Municipalities are facing a housing shortage. The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) is looking for a solution together with security regions and municipalities.