A justice ministry report about living conditions at the Ter Apel refugee centre in Groningen says the “most basic demands in terms of bed and board” are not being met and that the refugee settlement agency COA “urgently needs assistance”. 

The centre, which has maximum capacity for 2,000 people is currently providing accommodation for hundreds more, resulting in people sleeping in waiting and recreation rooms which do not meet fire safety standards, the inspectors said. 

Even though some people are bussed to other places to sleep, this is no solution for during the day when people are brought back to Ter Apel, the inspectors say. 

In addition, the risk of violent incidents is increasing, thanks to a group of 200 to 250 asylum seekers who continually cause problems. Last week a 25-year-old resident was stabbed and had to be hospitalised. 

“COA staff have been doing the best they can for months, but they are being asked to do the impossible,” chief inspector Hans Faber said in a note to junior immigration minister Erik van de Burg.

The inspectors want the government to place the centre in special measures so that emergency action can be taken, and to urge local authorities elsewhere to step in with help.

Earlier on Thursday television current affairs show EenVandaag leaked a report by Groningen’s local health board into living conditions at the centre, which listed a litany of problems, including poor hygiene, dirty mattresses, overflowing bins and methadone use by some residents.

The GGD was asked to visit the centre by local mayor Jaap Velema who has warned repeatedly about the problems in Ter Apel.

In particular the use of the opiate methadone by young, single men from north Africa is worrying, the health board said. COA confirmed to EenVandaag that methadone is dispensed to people with confirmed addiction issues at the location.

Disease is another problem and new arrivals are not screened to find out, for example, if they have tuberculosis. Last weekend the COA again drafted in the Red Cross to help provide showers and other facilities for asylum seekers at Ter Apel. They were last brought in to help ease the impact of overcrowding in June 2022.

“It is clear that we are in a crisis situation,” local councillor Marco Visscher told EenVandaag. 

Sceptical

Velema told the programme he is sceptical about the ministry’s promise of creating more reception centres. “We are being told constantly that people are busy working on the problem, and I believe they are,” he said. “But they are being frustrated by local authorities which refuse to release locations.” 

Last month COA said it would contact 45 municipalities that are failing to meet their obligations to provide shelter under a plan agreed between local mayors and provinces earlier in the month.

The justice ministry has warned that the number of refugees with a permit to stay who are living in asylum seeker accommodation – which is intended for those whose claims are still being processed – could reach 21,000 by 2025 unless councils find alternatives.