International

Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin has suspended any further evictions of families seeking asylum in the Netherlands, in cases where such families include children. The minister's decision follows pressure from SP Members of Parliament Nine Kooiman and Sharon Gesthuizen, which came in response to a case in which a penniless family with a small child were turned out on to the street from the asylum centre in which they had been housed.

“The Dutch state is responsible for all children in the Netherlands," says Kooiman. "It is a breach of the rights of the child to turn him or her out on to the street, and unworthy of a country such as the Netherlands. As long as this is the case, in the interests of the child the family must be offered accommodation. The child must not become the victim of a dispute over asylum procedure between the parents and the Dutch state."

The minister's preferred solution is, however, not definitive. On 24th August the Court of Justice in the Hague will deliver a further ruling regarding the eviction of asylum-seeking families with children. "The minister has gone for the easy option," says Kooiman: “Following the adoption of a resolution in both Parliament and the Council of Europe condemning the eviction of children, he can't really do anything but put a provisional end to the practice. As far as the SP is concerned, this should not be 'provisional' but definitive. Children should not be left to roam the streets.”