In the coming days, the cabinet hopes to find a solution to the reception crisis, which is causing major problems for asylum seekers in the application center in Ter Apel. “It is no longer the way it is in Ter Apel,” said State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asiel). But it’s unclear if a solution is in sight.
“It is clear that things are now going wrong in Ter Apel, and that the COA (Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers) can no longer handle it,” said the minister.
It regularly happens that asylum seekers have to spend the night on chairs. Emergency aid organization the Red Cross came to the rescue with tents, but the organization soon sounded the alarm: asylum seekers were left to their own devices and sometimes went without food for hours. “I completely understand what the Red Cross is saying,” says Van der Burg.
He also admits that the help of such an organization really shouldn’t be necessary, “but we just don’t have enough places. It’s the job of all of us to arrange that, we can’t do that right now. I’m glad the Red Cross that does.”