Refugee support group Vluchtelingenwerk will no longer be able to help refugees at most of government-run refugee centres because of government cutbacks, the aid organisation has said.
Vluchtelingenwerk currently offers support to refugees in preparing for the asylum procedure at 350 locations, but the cutback of €13 million, or a third of the budget, means that will have to be scaled down to 70, chairman Frank Candel said.
This, he said, will lead to more unjustified rejections and subsequent court cases, because refugees will not know how to prepare for the procedure properly.
That will put pressure not only on the refugees who will lose access to information but on other organisations such as immigration service IND and COA settlement agency.
Refugees who are often caught up in lengthy procedures will also be deprived of someone to talk to and the services of an interpreter, which, Candel said, will increase the already tense situations at many residential centres.
Candel said that Vluchtelingenwerk would try to help refugees via digital consultation sessions and their remaining physical network.
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