Dutch gov't's refugee shelter deal sparks criticism

Several Dutch political parties expressed great criticism on Thursday regarding the agreement government ruling parties VVD (Liberals) and PvdA (Labor) struck over a new system for providing emergency accommodation for homeless illegal refugees.

After nine days of negotiations, the VVD and the PvdA came to an agreement on Wednesday night. The key point of the deal is that the current so-called bed-bath-bread facilities must disappear. Currently, around 25 municipalities offer these bed-bath-bread facilities to undocumented asylum seekers, but under the new deal, only Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Eindhoven and the deportation center in Ter Apel are allowed to keep their bed-bath-and-bread care centers open in the future.

At these six centers, undocumented refugees can, according to the deal, stay for a few weeks on the condition that they cooperate with their deportation. Those who refuse will no longer be allowed to use the shelters. The six centers will be funded by the state.

The aim of the plan is to gain more information on the people who are undocumented in the Netherlands and to ultimately direct these people to deportation centers.

The agreement avoids a cabinet crisis. The VVD is in favor of a stricter asylum policy, while the PvdA advocates a humanitarian asylum policy and wants to foster the thousands of illegal immigrants. With this deal, the VVD is satisfied with less care, while Labor is happy that the basic shelter possibility remains.

Deputy Prime Minister Lodewijk Asscher called it a "hard-fought compromise". Prime Minister Mark Rutte added: "It is a difficult, most complicated subject."

D66 (Democrats) leader Alexander Pechtold spoke of it as an "insane compromise", while SP (Socialist Party) leader Emile Roemer called the deal "really nothing".

The SP and D66 indicated that the municipalities and refugees are not helped by the plan. "Refugees should now suddenly know within a few weeks where they can go? While for years we did not succeed in that," said Pechtold.

Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, also condemned the deal of the Dutch government parties. "If the Netherlands is going to become an island in the middle of Europe which rejects human rights obligations, it is better to come out and say it," Alston said to Dutch Radio 1.

"Why continue in trying to become the home of international law and tribunals?" he added. "Why try to become a member of the UN Security Council? Just come out and say: we don't believe non-Europeans have human rights, at least not in our country."

"Unrealistic, unsustainable and inhumane. The VVD and the PvdA ignore human rights," the Protestant Church PKN in the Netherlands declared in a statement.

Last year, the PKN filed a complaint against the Dutch state with the Council of Europe. In a ruling in December 2014, the Council decided that the Netherlands violated some basic rights of illegal immigrants, such as providing food, clothing and shelter, with asylum seekers often ending up on the street if they did not return to their country of origin.

According to refugee specialist Geesje Werkman of the PKN, the agreement is legally untenable. "This does not reflect the judgment of the Council of Europe, which makes it clear that the Netherlands violates international treaties. The European Committee of Social Rights has stated that no conditions should be attached to shelter. The government requires now to accept deportation for temporarily shelter."

Werkman also expects the centralized care at six sites will not be effective. "Illegals remain scattered across the country, this plan does not change that."

It is not yet certain whether the municipalities want to contribute to the new plan, but the government is optimistic that they will agree. Municipalities which now have a bed-bath-and-bread arrangement may temporarily continue until the Council of State, which advises the government on law and legal measures, rules on the agreement in June.

In a first reaction to the agreement, Nijmegen City Council member Bert Frings told national broadcaster NOS that he found it an "unworkable" agreement. He fears that asylum seekers would end up "on the street or under the bridge".

Arnhem City Council member Henk Kok criticizes the agreement as well: "It is not realistic that this deal will work. I do not believe in that." Endit