• #Ter_Apel, emergenza migranti. In 700 hanno dormito in strada, arriva Medici senza Frontiere

    Medici Senza Frontiere è intervenuta presso il centro per richiedenti asilo di Ter Apel, dove la notte scorsa 700 persone hanno dormito in strada, dice NOS.

    Da oggi l’organizzazione umanitaria internazionale Medici Senza Frontiere ha un’équipe a Ter Apel e presta assistenza ai richiedenti asilo che devono rimanere fuori dalla struttura per mancanza di posti di accoglienza.

    Il team è composto da cinque persone che forniscono assistenza sanitaria di base, dice NOS; curano ferite, infezioni e malattie della pelle e forniscono un primo soccorso psicologico ad adulti e bambini.

    È la prima volta che l’organizzazione umanitaria internazionale schiera una squadra nei Paesi Bassi.

    Ieri notte, circa 700 persone hanno dormito di nuovo all’aperto, dice la Croce Rossa. L’Agenzia centrale per l’accoglienza dei richiedenti asilo (COA) aveva già avvertito che potesse presentarsi una situazione come questa.

    Secondo MSF la situazione è simile a quella di Moria, sull’isola greca di Lesbo. Non c’erano docce e i servizi igienici non erano puliti.

    Il team ha parlato con persone che non riuscivano a lavarsi da una settimana: Alcuni avevano contratto una malattia della pelle a causa della mancanza di igiene. Negli ultimi giorni centinaia di persone hanno trascorso la notte all’aperto, indipendentemente dalle condizioni meteorologiche. “Tra questi donne incinte, bambini e persone con malattie croniche, come il diabete”.

    Alcuni malati cronici hanno esaurito i farmaci. “Se questa situazione persiste, potrebbe portare a gravi emergenze mediche”, ha affermato MSF.

    Secondo il sottosegretario Van der Burg, è molto importante che Medici senza frontiere vada a Ter Apel e si rammarica per la situazione

    “Abbiamo toccato il fondo”, dice il sindaco di Groningen, Koen Schuiling, a NOS Radio 1 Journaal. Il sindaco, che è anche presidente della Comitato per la sicurezza di Groningen, afferma che la situazione al centro di per richiedenti asilo “è insostenibile da un po’ di tempo” e, come MSF, fa un paragone con il campo di Moria.

    La direttrice di MSF Judith Sargentini definisce senza precedenti che MSF debba agire nei Paesi Bassi, “ma le circostanze in cui si trovano queste persone sono disumane”. Vuole che il governo centrale e i comuni mettano fine a tutto questo. Il team di MSF dovrebbe rimanere a Ter Apel per quattro o sei settimane. “Questa è davvero una soluzione a breve termine.”

    Il sindaco di #Groningen si vergogna di Ter Apel che definisce ‘La nostra Lampedusa’, dice NOS.

    https://www.31mag.nl/ter-apel-emergenza-migranti-in-700-hanno-dormito-in-strada-arriva-medici-senza

    #MSF #migrations #réfugiés #Pays-Bas #Groningue #SDF #logement #hébergement #centre_d'accueil #médecins_sans_frontières

    –—

    MSF débarque donc aux Pays-Bas, comme elle avait débarqué à #Briançon en novembre 2021 quand le Refuge Solidaire a fermé temporairement pour faire pression sur l’Etat... qui s’en est lavé les mains...


    https://seenthis.net/messages/934336#message936406

    • Dutch asylum center disaster: Housing crisis and politics to blame for Ter Apel crisis

      Displaced people are still in limbo at Ter Apel’s asylum center in The Netherlands. Migration experts blame Dutch politicians and the lack of housing facilities for the asylum reception fiasco in the country.

      “Stress, insomnia and anger. That’s what I’ve been experiencing over the past few days,” said Saleh (name changed) a displaced person from Yemen, who is keen to seek asylum in The Netherlands.

      Seated on a torn mattress on a muddy footpath outside the Ter Apel asylum center in the northern province of Groningen — The Netherlands’ largest and main asylum reception center — he described how the inhumane conditions there had also left him feeling suicidal.

      “I fled horrible living conditions in Yemen in July this year hoping to live a better life in Europe. I reached The Netherlands in early August and continue to live in a harsh manner. I have been sleeping outside with the mosquitoes for more than three weeks since the Ter Apel center is overcrowded. They won’t even let me register for asylum and all this waiting and uncertainty has left me feeling like killing myself,” he told DW.
      Overcrowding and health hazards at Ter Apel

      Located in the lush green village of Ter Apel, this center can house up to 2,000 people and is also the place where refugees have to declare their arrival in order to begin their asylum application process.

      But over the past few weeks, bureaucracy in asylum procedures and overcrowding at the center led to more than 700 people camping outside. A three-month-old baby also died at the center last week.

      While investigations around the cause of the baby’s death are still ongoing, Nicole van Batenburg, press officer at Red Cross Netherlands, told DW that the health conditions in the center have been terrible for months.

      “We’ve seen a lot of health hazards. Many people get blisters, foot problems and skin issues because they can’t shower and have been sleeping in rough conditions outside. Some have also had heart and respiratory problems and we’ve been working together with Doctors Without Borders who have also set up their base here for the first time, to help people,” she said.

      Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has said he was “ashamed” and announced several measures over the weekend to try and get the situation under control. So far, more than several hundred have been evacuated by bus to other asylum shelters around the country, in order to ensure that nobody had to sleep outside.

      Yet some like Saleh refused to leave, fearing they would lose their turn of registering their asylum claims at the main Ter Apel center. “I need to get my asylum papers and will continue waiting for however long it takes,” he said.

      According to Milo Schoenmaker, Chairman of the board of the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA), there are currently 16,000 people inside the center. He said in a statement that the Dutch cabinet, was now focusing on transferring the 16,000 people who live in the center and already hold asylum status.

      “This offers them perspective and creates space for new people who need asylum reception,” he said.

      Yahia Mane, a refugee from Sierra Leone, thinks this is a false claim.

      “They are lying about no place inside the center. There are rooms still empty. I saw that when I was inside with my family. They just don’t want to admit more people. That makes them criminals,” he said.

      “I lived inside with my wife and two kids for three weeks after registering, but it was horrible. We didn’t even get proper food. They now want to transfer me to another prison-like asylum center and separate me from my family, and make place for new arrivals. I didn’t expect this from the Netherlands. I came here hoping I would have a safe roof for my family,” he told DW.
      Politics and housing crisis behind asylum reception fiasco

      Sophie in’t Veld, a member of the European Parliament and politician from the liberal D66 party, told DW that the asylum reception crisis is mainly a political problem.

      “Being one of the richest countries in the world, I find it absolutely shameful that the political system of our country has resulted in people living in such conditions. The current government has mismanaged migration over the past few years with some political parties in the country wanting to stop immigration. They want no more asylum seekers, which I think is an illusion,” she said.

      Veld was also critical of the Dutch government’s solution of tackling the Ter Apel reception crisis by limiting family reunification visas and restricting migrant arrivals agreed under a 2016 European Union deal with Turkey.

      “This is clearly a violation of human rights and also EU law. I particularly find the family reunification restriction disturbing because that means people can be cut off from their children, their parents and relatives for a long period of time,” she said.

      The Dutch government has set a September 10 deadline to have all refugees living in proper shelters and also instructed the Dutch army to build a second asylum reception center.

      But Bram Frows, Director of the Mixed Migration Center, said the problem is also linked to a huge housing crisis brewing in The Netherlands.

      “There just aren’t enough houses in the country which affects the availability of houses for asylum seekers. So this means they will continue living in asylum reception centers across the country for months. In turn, the asylum centers have no capacity to receive new arrivals and people have to sleep outside,” he told DW.

      Rising house prices and property investors manipulating the housing market are some of the main reasons behind the lack of enough housing facilities in the Netherlands according to a study commissioned by the Dutch Interior Ministry.

      Frows lists a number of other issues that are exacerbating the problem.

      “Shortage of laborers means there aren’t enough people to construct new homes. A nitrogen emission crisis is stalling the process of building houses. And farmers are being told by the far right that the Dutch elite who support immigration will encroach farmlands to build new homes for migrants. So in the end, it is the asylum seekers who bear the brunt,” he added.
      Pathway ahead with EU help

      The European Union Agency for Asylum has already stepped in to support the Dutch authorities in increasing asylum reception capacity. According to an EU Commission spokesperson, the operational plan was signed between the Agency and the Dutch authorities on May 6 this year.

      “The plan, with one year validity, aims to extend reception and accommodation capacities for asylum seekers and displaced people, deploying seven European Union Agency for Asylum staff on the ground and providing 160 containers. As of August 23, the first Reception Officer from the European Union Agency for Asylum has been deployed to Ter Apel,” the spokesperson told DW.

      Yet Frows thinks the EU should also critically assess the Dutch asylum policy, including the government’s newly proposed ideas on family reunification.

      “The government’s plan to handle this crisis by reducing family reunification arrivals in order to avoid congestion at Ter Apel should be avoided. So far, these people arrive on family reunification visas and also need to register at Ter Apel. There is no need for that since they have already been vetted. This isn’t a solution to stop overcrowding,” he said.

      He added that the Dutch government can find creative solutions like using empty office buildings as temporary housing sectors.

      Cities like Velsen-North and Amsterdam have already been proactive. According to local media reports, both have approved an agreement with the central government to house at least 1,000 refugees on a cruise ship anchored to their ports for at least six months.

      For Saleh, who still remains in limbo on the streets of Ter Apel, such solutions give him hope for the near future.

      “I know the Dutch people are amazing and will find solutions. But the bureaucracy of the migration system is what is really affecting us right now. I hope I get my papers soon so I can live and work in any place here to give back to this country,” he said.

      https://www.dw.com/en/dutch-asylum-center-disaster-housing-crisis-and-politics-to-blame-for-ter-apel-crisis/a-62979784

      #modèle_hollandais