The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers is on the verge of collapse. This is evident from his research Norwegian Refugee Council It was confirmed by the COA. Asylum seekers centers across the country are dealing with a lot of staff loss. At Ter Apel, the largest center for asylum seekers in the Netherlands, one in three COA employees has now lost their job.

According to the Anti-Corruption Commission, it is currently no longer possible to receive asylum seekers in a “humane manner”. The organization states that it does not know of a solution at this time. In addition to the high dropout rate among employees, there are also 1,000 vacancies. These must be completed before the end of the year. The organization now employs 4,000 people.

Almost a year ago, the Counter-Terrorism Committee sounded the alarm with Foreign Minister van der Burg for Asylum and Migration. The letter stated that reception “threatened to be sub-human”, “both to the population and to the staff”.

The Refugee Foundation represents the interests of asylum seekers and announced earlier this month that the work of the Agriculture Committee was seriously inadequate. The foundation says the COA and the government are responsible for the poor conditions in asylum reception and has indicated that it will go to court if the situation does not improve before August 1.

The number of asylum applications doubled in one year

During the last period, hundreds of asylum seekers slept abroad or on a chair in the waiting area of ​​the application center in Ter Abel. This was partly due to a lack of family.

Statistics Netherlands reported that in the same period, a record number of people applied for asylum in the Netherlands. In the months of April, May and June, there were at least 7,000 people, twice the number in the same months last year. It is the largest number of applications since 2014.

In the second quarter of 2021, 3,340 people applied for asylum in the Netherlands. CBS explained that the flow was low at the time due to measures against the Corona virus. In the previous year, right after the start of the Corona crisis, there were fewer applications. In April, May and June 2020, 260 people applied for asylum. But also in the second quarter of 2019, before the Corona outbreak, there were fewer orders now, i.e. 5,190.

The largest group of asylum seekers consists of Syrians. In April, May and June, 2,260 people from this country applied for asylum in the Netherlands for the first time. In the same months last year, about 1,000 Syrians applied for asylum. The Turks follow after the Syrians. The Netherlands received 695 asylum applications from people from this country. They are followed by the Afghans (630) and the Somalis (300).

In the second quarter, 170 people from Russia applied for asylum. This is the largest number in CBS data, going back to 2013. It’s about the same as in 2021, when 205 Russians applied for asylum here.

People who have obtained a residence permit in the Netherlands can also bring their family members so that they can be reunited with each other. These family members are called relatives. In the second quarter, 3,140 people came to the Netherlands in this way. More than 2,000 of them came from Syria. This is 21 percent more than the same months last year. Then followed by Turkey, Eritrea and Yemen.