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Letter of 8 September 2015 from the State Secretary for Security and Justice and the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation to the House of Representatives on the European asylum issue Introduction

The refugee situation is more acute than it has ever been. Huge numbers of people are seeking safety, having fled war and extreme hardship. They are being joined by people looking for better economic circumstances. In their attempts to reach Europe they use the services of ruthlessly calculating

people smugglers who earn money from other people’s misery and regard death

simply as corporate risk, even when young children drown before the eyes of the world. Europe cannot offer all refugees shelter, but it does share the responsibility

for refugees’

safety. We also have a duty to hobble the efforts of people smugglers. The EU member states cannot now afford to discuss which problem is more important: our problem of how to deal among ourselves with the migrants who are already here, or our shared problem of unsustainably high numbers flooding into Europe. A European solution can be effective only if we tackle both problems simultaneously, as inseparable issues. The Dutch government has been endeavouring to arrive at a common European approach to bring an end to people smuggling and to the deaths by drowning and suffocation. We must fulfil our duty to protect refugees with an approach to the problem that Europe can sustain in the longer term. In this letter we wish to inform Parliament, also on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, of the

Netherlands’

input into the European decision-making process.

Redoubling efforts to tackle the European asylum issue

The European Union is under growing pressure from immigration, and the situation is unlikely to improve in the near future. The reception and asylum system in the EU member states is rapidly reaching its limits, or in some cases has already reached them. We must ensure the EU member states can lastingly continue to offer protection and that free movement remains possible within the Schengen area by arriving at joint solutions, some of which will be new to us. EU member states are being affected in various ways by the current asylum problems. Though all member states maintain that these can only be addressed jointly, in practice what we mainly see is piecemeal solutions. Debate on these solutions and their relative merits is paralysing

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progress, and has done so for many years. There is no magic formula. Effective solutions are possible only if we look at what everyone wants and find common ground. Although in recent months some results have been achieved quite rapidly by European standards

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the temporary mechanism for registration in ‘hotspots’

and relocation of asylum seekers arriving in Italy and Greece, for example

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in other cases implementation is slow or the measures are simply inadequate, given the ever larger numbers of migrants reaching the external borders who then travel on unchecked to other member states. The human suffering this entails, and the risk of exploitation by people smugglers, even on EU territory, are greater than ever. We must devise an approach that goes further than the current plans. The core of this approach must lie in tackling the root causes, better reception facilities in the region, an EU programme of resettlement, a fair distribution of responsibility for asylum seekers and refugees within the EU based on solidarity, a joint system for the effective return of people who are not granted a residence permit, and the dismantling of the pe

ople smugglers’

cynical business model in order to reduce the flow of migrants into Europe and make it more manageable.

Ultimate goal: UNHCR registration and reception in the region

Some of the people who are drowning at sea would have the right to protection if they survived the journey. Others would have been sent back to where they came from. Criminal networks earn a lot of money from these people, some of which ends up in the hands of other networks that further undermine the stability of the region, thus perpetuating the flow of refugees and the

people smugglers’ customer base. We must break this vicious circle.

Refugees generally seek protection in the first safe country they reach. However, a lack of resources means the capacity and quality of the reception facilities there are under great pressure. The shortfall in Syria and the surrounding region has already reached

€

4.2 billion for 2015. The government has therefore decided to contribute another

€

110 million this year, over and above previous contributions to reception in the region, partly in view of the forthcoming winter months.

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At the same time, the reality is that after a time some refugees conclude that there are no prospects for them and their families to build a new life in the region and decide to move on elsewhere

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Europe in this case. In order to put an end to this trend, and to the risks refugees face on their journey, Europe must do more to improve prospects in the region of initial reception. Europe must help improve security and protection, but we must also do more if we want to stop people moving on. This will require a new approach to refugee reception in which the EU will have to take substantial responsibility. A hopeless existence in improvised accommodation or refugee camps must make way for more structural solutions in major transit countries in safe and properly equipped host communities. Such semi-permanent facilities are necessary, but for various reasons this is a sensitive issue, and complex to put into practice. It will therefore take considerable efforts and the cooperation of the third countries in question, but these are conditions that the EU and its member states can help create through assistance and direct economic investment in infrastructure and business. This approach must be supported by redoubled efforts to promote peace, security and the rule of law using the instruments available. The government will work out further proposals over the coming period and reserve extra resources in the longer term for reception in the Netherlands and in the region. The latter could be partially funded in the long term by savings arising from reductions in the number of migrants travelling to the EU and requesting asylum here. We can tie in our efforts to support host communities in third countries with what is happening in the region, because reception in the region is already being provided on a large scale. We must not forget this. The numbers of people arriving in Europe are only a small percentage of the refugee population in countries like Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, and certain countries in Africa. It is important that we show solidarity with these countries in protecting and caring for refugees. We can do so by making investments as proposed above, which will also benefit local populations, but that will not in itself be enough. We must combine strengthening reception in the region with the option of resettling refugees in Europe as a safety valve for secure regional reception facilities. International multipurpose centres, like those in Niger, could be scaled up in collaboration with organisations like UNHCR and IOM and with the local authorities. A certain degree of burden sharing is necessary in order to relieve the pressure on the region, and to create support for the proposed structural changes in the reception model there.