International

The Council of State today ruled that Immigration and Asylum Minister Gerd Leers has taken insufficient account of the dangers that westernised Somalis run in their country of origin. The judgement follows an earlier ruling that Somalis cannot be subject to deportation, as the murderous group known as Al Shabaab continues to control large swathes of the country. ‘The minister is of the opinion that Somalis would be best returning to their country voluntarily,’ says SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel. ‘He will grant them emergency relief only if they agree to do this. This of course leads to their going back “voluntarily”, but with a knife at their throats.’

Over the last few days a residential neighbourhood of Utrecht has had to be evacuated following the discovery of a particularly dangerous form of asbestos in houses there. Despite the continued presence of potentially dangerous asbestos in buildings in the Netherlands having been raised on a number of occasions by SP Members of Parliament, the government has consistently refused to take appropriate action, as the account below demonstrates.