The Dutch government wants to introduce some of the toughest asylum rules in Europe, but it may not be so straightforward.
The Dutch government agreed on strict new asylum measures on Friday, including differentiating between refugees based on their reason for claiming asylum.
The proposals approved by the Dutch cabinet will still need to go to the Council of State, an independent adviser to the government, to make sure they are legally sound and can be implemented.
“This cabinet is heading for the strictest asylum regime and the strictest admission requirements ever,” Minister of Asylum and Migration Marjolein Faber said in a statement. She is part of the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV). Ministers from all coalition parties (PVV, VVD, BBB and NSC) have backed the move to tighten the rules to try and reduce the amount of asylum seekers going to the Netherlands.
How will the Netherlands reduce asylum seekers?
The new measures are broken down into three new laws.
This includes the Asylum Emergency Act which aims to abolish permanent residence permits. The effect of this is that refugees may not be able to stay indefinitely and would face periodic reviews of their status. The proposed law would also limit the validity of asylum permits to three years, restrict the number of family members that can join refugees permanently and extend the declaration of undesirability, which if issued means that you are not allowed to enter the Netherlands.
Another proposed law would focus on differentiating between asylum seekers. It would make a distinction between people fleeing dangerous situations because of ethnicity, sexual orientation or religion, and people fleeing war and violence. The idea behind it is that people who flee war and violence will eventually return to their country of origin when it is safe there again.
Finally the cabinet wants to criminalise people who do not cooperate with deportation.
The new proposals face fierce criticism
While the cabinet has approved the proposals there are still hurdles for it to cross as there has been strong criticism and doubt about the new laws.
The Dutch Bar Association was consulted on the possibility of differentiating between asylum seekers. In its response it said it ‘advises against the introduction of a dual status system and the imposition of stricter conditions on the subsequent travel of family members of persons with subsidiary protection’.
The Council of State which will give its advice on the proposals has previously raised concerns about the increased amount of litigation through appeals that they could bring.
