The Dutch court ruled that the Netherlands must treat migrants who arrive from other countries just as well as refugees from Ukraine. The court noted, however, "there are now too few places in the entire system to accommodate people according to the standards."
Accommodation for non-Ukrainian asylum seekers in the Netherlands is inadequate, a judge in The Hague ruled on Tuesday (December 20).
The ruling comes after the Dutch refugee agency sued the state because of the poor conditions in migrant reception centers this summer. The judge said The Netherlands must treat people who arrive from other countries just as well as asylum seekers from Ukraine.
The refugee agency won the case in a first hearing, but the state appealed, the German news agency dpa reported. The second court has now also ruled in favor of the refugee agency, and agreed that the accommodation did not meet international standards.
The court, however, added that the state could not be forced to enact more measures in the short term. In particular, it noted that "it was also sufficiently established that there are now too few places in the entire system to accommodate people according to the standards."
Netherlands grapples with migrant housing crisis
The Netherlands is facing a nationwide housing shortage for migrants, in part due to staff shortages after the government scaled down capacity at migrant centers during the coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of migrants have been living in temporary accommodation across the country, such as in gymnasiums.
A three-month-old baby died in August at the Ter Apel central registration camp and at least 700 asylum seekers had to sleep outside the camp in unsanitary conditions due to overcrowding. They did not include refugees from Ukraine, who have a different status and were all adequately accommodated by municipalities.
Amsterdam approved a plan on August 30 to temporarily accommodate at least 1,000 migrants on a cruise ship as the country grapples with overcrowding.
Once asylum seekers are granted refugee status in the Netherlands, many struggle to find accommodation and so remain in the refugee centers which were intended only as temporary accommodations for people awaiting decisions on their asylum application.
With dpa