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Netherlands: "Safe third country" introduced

01 January 1995

The Belgian government has announced it will not automatically take back asylum-seekers who could be returned by the Dutch authorities under new legislation on "safe third countries". The Dutch senate is expected to approve the bill, which is in many respects identical to recent German legislation. Asylum seekers who pass through countries considered "safe" by the Dutch government can be sent back directly over the border. According to state secretary Mrs Schmitz, in practice only asylum seekers who have spent some time in the "safe" country would be sent back there.

There is considerable criticism from legal experts and refugee organizations, who maintain that the law will be in violation of Schengen agreements that guarantee an asylum procedure in at least one of the Schengen countries. They fear that in practice, asylum seekers will be shipped back through all Western European countries until they arrive for example in the Czech Republic or Poland. Refugee organizations reject the judging of an asylum request on the basis of a person's travel route.

Lawyers have announced their intention to withdraw from the reporting centres on the border in Zevenaar and Rijsbergen because they would no longer be able to provide adequate legal support. Without the cooperation of the lawyers, the centres cannot function. The Justice department expects that about half of those seeking asylum will be affected by the new regulations, which would amount to about 20,000 individuals. Because the department expects that many asylum seekers will still try to remain in Holland "illegally", additional measures will be taken to deny them access to any government facilities such as housing, medical care etc.