Pressure is mounting on junior justice minister Fred Teeven to take a more generous approach with the amnesty for child refugees and give more of them permanent residency rights.

Labour party members in Zwolle on Thursday evening voted overwhelmingly to extend the amnesty to children who lived under local authority supervision for a time.

The amnesty, agreed by Labour and the right-wing VVD as part of their coalition deal, only applies to children who have lived in the Netherlands for at least five years under the care of national government.

Discretionary rights

According to Labour, 97 children have missed out on a residency permit because of this clause and 26 of them have been given a discretionary right to stay by the minister.

‘Children should be playing and enjoying life, not used as political trophies for successful or failed policies,’ Labour leader Diederik Samsom said.

So far, 130 mayors have also signed a petition calling on Teeven to rethink and include children who were under council supervision as well.

Earlier this week, the children’s ombudsman Marc Dullaert described the way the rules are being applied as ‘idiotic’ and said he planned to publish some of the children’s stories on his website.

Last month it emerged 3,280 minors had applied for residency permits under the amnesty and 1,710 were rejected. The children of parents suspected of war crimes are not eligible for the amnesty either.