Shortage of reception spaces Ter Apel
In recent weeks, things went wrong several times in Ter Apel, where COA even closed its doors for one night in June because there was no more shelter available. People climbed fences and were given nothing to eat or drink for hours.
Food distribution in Ter Apel
Frank Candel, chairman of the board of the Dutch Council for Refugees, travelled to Ter Apel at that time to assess the situation and see if the Council could be of assistance. When he arrived, he saw that there were not enough people to provide rapid assistance, so he helped distribute food to refugees. He also helped escort people to buses that took them to two locations.
The Dutch Council of Refugees has been urging the State Secretary for some time to find more places for initial reception and continues to draw attention to this issue. “There is still a lot to be done in this country and we remain committed to helping these vulnerable people,” said Frank Candel.
What does the Refugee Council do in Ter Apel?
In Ter Apel, the Refugee Council works in the AC (Registration Centre), COL (Central Reception Location), POL (Process Reception Location) and VBL (Freedom Restricting Location). Among other things, we are working in the following areas:
- Every day, the Refugee Council provides asylum seekers with information about the asylum procedures, legal assistance and the status of the asylum procedure.
- Furthermore, the Refugee Council is a source of information for all residents on a wide range of issues related to the asylum procedure.
- In addition, the Refugee Council provides information to family members who come to the Netherlands for family reunification.
- VluchtelingenWerk can go through the individual refugee story with the asylum seeker in the POL (Refugee Story Analysis) and offers assistance in requesting documents that support the refugee story and identity.
