Police `recruit' asylum seekers
01 January 1991
Police `recruit' asylum seekers
One of the issues the new Dutch Minister of Justice, Mrs
Sorgdrager, will have to deal with is the growing concern of
solicitors and refugee organizations over security service and
police intelligence branches activities in debriefing and
recruiting asylum seekers. Under the last government such
concerns were brushed off, but refugee organisations now insist
on clear guidelines and assurances for refugees that their case
is not affected by refusing to supply intelligence. Surinamese
asylum seekers almost as a matter of course are visited by the
police seeking information on cocaine traffic. Algerians are
extensively questioned on Hamas, and claim to have been put under
pressure to cooperate with the BVD security service. Iranian
refugees recently recounted how they were approached for
recruitment as they arrived on the airport, in return for a
promise of legal status. Anonymous Justice department
functionaries have reported that BVD officers frequently drop by
to pick up dossiers, and that the formal procedure of first
obtaining the Minister's permission is simply ignored.
Statewatch, Vol 4 no 6, November-December 1994