WILLEMSTAD - Various human rights organizations have written to the parliaments of the Netherlands, Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten asking for a more humane approach to the refugees and crisis migrants from Venezuela. "The Netherlands to stop looking away."
The organizations Amnesty International, Refugee Work Netherlands and Human Rights Defense Curaçao (HRDC) have sent a letter to the presidents of the Parliament of Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten and to the Kingdom Commission of the Dutch Senate and the House of Representatives. They will meet on Curaçao for three days this week as part of the semi-annual Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultation, IPKO.
HRDC explains that there is criticism of the fact that the Netherlands finances the renovation of so-called foreigners' barracks in Curaçao without imposing requirements on the reception. The imprisoned foreigners are still behind barbed wire and in barred rooms and are thus deprived of their freedom.
Amnesty released a report on February 7 on the situation of undocumented Venezuelans in Curaçao. It is the third report on this topic since 2018.
According to Amnesty, the way refugees and crisis migrants are treated is poor and has hardly improved in recent years.
The human rights organizations therefore want the Netherlands to stop hiding behind occasional arguments such as autonomy in immigration issues. They want a humane shelter in which Venezuelans can freely wait for a temporary or permanent legal stay.