Netherlands: new Aliens Act
01 January 1994
The Justice Ministry is implementing measures to counter what it calls the "trafficking in asylum seekers". The Ministry claims that dozens of asylum seekers from Africa or the Middle East who live in the Netherlands engage in organizing refugee lines, charging thousands of guilders for a forged passport and a solid 'refugee story'. Civil servants say that some 90% of all asylum seekers arriving at Schiphol Airport are helped by these entrepreneurs. The new Aliens Act introduces Carrier sanctions (fines on airlines and shipping companies bringing in undocumented or falsely documented passengers) for the first time (they have been in force in the UK since 1987). Police forces have already stepped up checks on incoming bus traffic from Eastern Europe.
Negotiations have been opened with more African governments to deploy Marechaussee (military border police) at their airports to "assist" in checking travel documents on flights to Holland. Last year such "preventive checks" stopped large numbers of Somali refugees boarding Holland-bound airplanes at Nairobi airport. But in January 1994 several Central African governments refused to allow Dutch border guards on their soil.
New legislation will also allow the prosecution of private persons who provide lodging for "illegal aliens". So far no effective controls have been carried out, but by mid-1994 the coupling of the databases of the Aliens Department, the Welfare Department and the local inhabitants registers will allow computerized searches to trace "irregular situations".
Despite fierce criticism the new legislation on aliens was accepted by parliament. Professor Groenendijk, a well-known expert on aliens legislation from Nijmegen University, has stated that the new Dutch law is much stricter than the German and British legislation. The five presidents of the courts of appeal have also protested against the abolition of the right of appeal for all cases pertaining to the legal status of foreigners, including those already residing in Holland. Under the new law the government can simply reject requests for permission to reside in the country and for asylum without a right of appeal. Currently, the courts overturn about one third of such decisions.