Council of Europe Criticizes Dutch Policy of Asylum Seekers

The European Committee for Social Rights has decided that asylum seekers who have finished their legal procedures to remain in the Netherlands, cannot be put on the street without the Dutch state taking care of them. This committee is part of the Council of Europe and reacted to a complaint by the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. The committee said that people who do not have a permit to remain in the Netherlands risk serious and irreparable damage to their lives when they are excluded from housing, food and clothing. Therefore, the state has to take all possible measures to supply them with their basic needs. Spokesperson of Deputy Minister Fred Teeven called the judgment of the committee “non-binding and preliminary.” The Deputy Minister said that the committee’s opinion has extraordinarily undesirable consequences. www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2686/Binnenland/article/detail/3536712/2013/10/31/Nederland-mag-asielzoekers-niet-op-straat-zetten.dhtml