The Netherlands is too quick to refuse residency rights to divided families and fails to take the interests of children sufficiently into account, according to a new report by charity group Defence for Children.

The report focuses on families in which the parents have different nationalities and which are being torn apart by red tape, rather than on refugees.

‘Sometimes children are being forced to chose between staying in the Netherlands as “orphans” or moving to an unknown country where their mother or father is allowed to settle,’ researcher Martine Goeman said.

One example quoted is that of a three-year-old boy who was taken into care after his Dutch mother committed suicide. The child’s father would have been perfectly capable of taking care of him but was being held in secure accommodation pending his deportation.

Court

In October 2014, the Netherlands was reprimanded by the European court of human rights for refusing to give a residency permit to a woman from Suriname so she could take care of her three Dutch children.

Goeman said no one knows how many children are affected because the Netherlands does not register how many parents apply for a residency permit on the grounds of their right to a family life.

The Netherlands is lagging behind other countries, she said. ‘The minister cannot avoid the fact that there are international rules which require a change of policy,’ she said. ‘There has to be an end to the unnecessary separation of children from their parents.’

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