King sees challenges and successes on visit to asylum centre

King Willem-Alexander has visited one of the Netherlands’ longest running accommodation centres for asylum seekers to talk to refugees and local residents.

The king received an enthusiastic reception from the 530 people living in the centre in Leersum, Utrecht province, which has been operational for 35 years.

He said he wanted to see how a refugee centre “can be integrated into a local community”, but also gain an insight into the challenges for people living in the area.

During his visit he was shown the facilities in the centre such as a women’s café with yoga and cooking workshops, a bicycle repair shop and support for refugees looking for work or training.

“We all know what the problems are and we see them a lot,” the king said. “But it is also good to be able to show, by being here and bringing lots of journalists along, that things can go very well.”

He was handed a bundle of letters from primary school children, in which they told their personal stories and described how they missed their parents.

The head of the school, Bea, who has been teaching refugee children for 16 years, told AD.nl that the outlook was bleaker than at any time she could remember because of the length of time it is taking for asylum claims to be processed.

“A large group of children are still waiting for their parents, whom they haven’t seen for two or three years in some cases, to be given residency permits,” she said. “We have to deal with that as well as teaching classes.”