About us
About us
From day one, refugees actively participate in building their future. That's the vision we work towards, together with thousands of volunteers and staff. Learn more about who we are.
We are...
We are a team of over ten thousand motivated volunteers and paid staff. We believe that people who have had to leave their homes for fear of oppression, persecution, and war should be able to build a new existence in safety. An existence where they can fully participate and contribute to our society.
How it started
The Dutch Council for Refugees was founded more than 45 years ago, in 1979. The goal? To support refugees at all times, independent of politics.
Until then, human rights organizations, churches and the government had advocated for the protection of refugees. Now, a professional organization was formed, working with volunteers to provide shelter, protection and integration. After years of being organized locally, the association was transformed into one national organization in 2022: the Dutch Council for Refugees.
This is us now
69.400 people
In 2025 we guided over 69.400 asylum seekers through their asylum procedure.
276 municipalities
We operate in 276 municipalities, covering around 80% of all municipalities in the Netherlands.
7.000 volunteers
Over 7.000 volunteers dedicate themselves to the Dutch Council for Refugees.
Our locations
The Dutch Council for Refugees is the only organization in the Netherlands that assists refugees at all stages of their stay. We do so with a network of locations, staff and volunteers nationwide. The Dutch Council for Refugees is active in all asylum seekers' centres (azc's) and 74% of all municipalities in the Netherlands.
We are CBF-recognised
The Dutch Council for Refugees meets the strict quality standards for charities set by the CBF, the Dutch regulator for charitable organisations.
The ‘Recognised charity' quality mark shows that VluchtelingenWerk contributes to a better world, uses every euro responsibly, reports transparently, and is independently audited.