“Absurd”, “illegal”… The Dutch government’s solution to deal with the influx of refugees into the country has been harshly criticized. In fact, the Netherlands is considering using cruise ships to accommodate up to 3,000 people, the British daily reports. The Guardian.
The authorities still have to think about how to manage the movement of refugees between the dock and the ship, so that these people are not considered “illegal captives by the State”, in the words of the newspaper.
Refugees risk ending up at sea
Three ships have already been put into service, and one of them is due to moor in the port of Velsen, about twenty kilometers from Amsterdam. But ministers are struggling to find other places. The risk that immigrants end up at sea on these boats is causing a reaction from Dutch associations.
“A cruise as a temporary measure is already much better than an emergency shelter. But it is not the same if you leave them adrift in the sea. (…) This should not be done to people who have fled war and violence. We must take care of the refugees as a society, and not from a distance,” a spokesman for the VluchtelingenWerk association told the newspaper. guardian.
A difference in treatment between refugees of Ukrainian origin and others, suggested by the government, further outrages the associations. The Netherlands has seen the arrival of 60,000 Ukrainians since the beginning of the conflict in this country, and the situation regarding emergency accommodation is now very tense.
France experienced a similar situation in the spring of 2022. The Ukrainian refugees had been accommodated on board the Mediterranean, in the port of Marseille, between March 29 and June 10. This ferry from the Corsica Linea company had ended up going back to sea, and its passengers were spread out in other accommodations.
Source: BFM TV
