30 March 2016
The Netherlands refuses to shelter more than five hundred recognized refugees through the United Nations, despite the urgent request of the UN-refugee organization UNHCR to increase the amounts.
The Dutch Foundation for Refugees (VluchtelingenWerk Nederland) thinks it is “scandalous” that the Netherlands will not increase the amounts, especially in the context of the refugee crisis and the call of the UNHCR. According to the UNHCR 480.000 refugees need to be relocated.
“Especially while the Netherlands is now chairman of the EU, the Netherlands is acting shamefully by retaining this stance,” Jasper Kuipers of the Dutch Foundation for Refugees said.
The relocation is an issue that is separate from the European deal to spread 160.000 Syrian refugees throughout the EU. This issue relates to people who were stranded in Greece and Italy. The Netherlands has pledged to take in several thousands of this group. At the moment approximately a hundred people stay in the Netherlands out of this group.
