Surprising Europe - Detention Centres in the Netherlands

The treatment of refugees in the Netherlands goes beyond our imagination. The magazine “Surprising Europe” presented the unbelievable situation of African immigrants that come to the Netherlands. The interviewed prisoners in the detention centre in Zeist illustrated how they were treated badly although they are no criminals. One refugee passed through the Netherlands, intending to go to Canada but was brought to the detention centre in Zeist.

 



Alexander Dolmatov

So, the question is, why are immigrants held in detention centres in this country although they are no criminals? Refugees who are in the asylum procedure are held in these centres to be available for the Dutch government all the time. The conditions in these “prisons” vary of course, but most prisoners are treated very badly. They do not have enough time outside, no contact to their families and if they are ill there is no doctor to care for them. All kinds of resistance and protest (suicide intent, emotional reaction, not eating) lead to violence against them or they are put into an isolation cell, where the conditions seems to be even worse.
A very shocking example was the young Russian Alexander Dolmatov.  He was an anti-Putin activist and fled from imprisonment to the Netherlands. Due to complications and errors, his application was rejected and he had to stay in a detention centre where he committed suicide.

If he had been granted asylum, he would still be alive. Another example where people had to die in vain is the fire of 2005. The huge fire broke out in the Schiphol detention centre, in which 11 people were killed and 14 injured, among them also guards. The fire broke out in one of the cells but as the prisoners alarmed the guards, they were not taken seriously. When the guards finally realized the danger, they had to unlock each cell separately. By then, it was already too late for some of them.

Cell

The Dutch immigration law is visibly a danger, rather than a support, to most refugees and this problem has to be addressed.