International

This evening I am taking part in the monthly wake at the centre for the detention of foreigners – people awaiting a decision on their asylum applications, or awaiting deportation after being refused asylum. It is profoundly sad that, on the eve of the official Remembrance Day when the Dutch people remember our war dead, we must also grieve for asylum seekers who have committed suicide in the Netherlands as a result of the harsh policy of the Dutch government. If we are to respect European and international law, we must put an end as quickly as possible to the locking up of foreigners as a means of putting pressure on them to leave. One would hope that by next year no wake will be needed.

On the first Sunday of every month a group of people holds a protest at the Rotterdam detention in Zestienhoven, near to the airport. Foreigners, many of whom are refused asylum seekers. There are no daytime activities, as these have been abolished due to the cost. But what the SP is most opposed to is locking up of people who have no prospect of leaving, where detention becomes a sort of blackmail. Make their lives as difficult as possible, and somehow they will go of their own accord. Or those who are caught in a revolving door: a period of detention, then a period when they are free, and then in detention again.

Such practices are in conflict with European law, but even apart from that they are not what you want to see, Of course asylum seekers, if their applications are refused, must leave, but only if that is indeed possible, but many countries refuse to cooperate in the return of their citizens. In addition, there are sometimes questions regarding the identity and nationality of refused asylum seekers. In such cases there is no prospect of their leaving and you can’t shift responsibility on to the foreigners. They don’t belong in a detention centre.

That’s why I am in solidarity with the group who organise the wake each month. I’ll give a short speech ending on a note of optimism. Plans are being made for a new law which is going to change the Netherlands’ policy on detention. Hopefully it will be quickly shepherded through Parliament. It would be a fine thing if next year the wake were no longer held, not because of a lack of interest, but because the detention centre has been closed.