Netherlands: Anti-Gay Violence in Asylum Centers

Translation by Fousesquawk.

According to a gay activist group in the Netherlands, there is an on-going problem of violence against gays in Dutch refugee asylum centers The below article is by Bart Reijmerink in Dagelijkse Standaard dated August 21, 2020.


https://www.dagelijksestandaard.nl/2020/08/brandbrief-gericht-aan-staatssecretaris-homogerelateerd-geweld-in-asielzoekerscentra-wordt-nauwelijks-aangepakt/


Fiery letter to the state secretary: Homosexual-related violence in asylum center is hardly addressed"

Sandro Kortekaas, chairman of LGBT  Asylum Support, has written a  fiery letter to state secretary Broekers-Noed. According to Kortekaas, hardly anything is done against anti-homosexual violence in asylum centers.  Since June there have been 60 reports, but hardly anything is done,says Kortekaas. There must be a change here, says  the chairman of LGBT Asylum Support..

Kortekaas is quite clear: There is no other solution than separate asylum centers for LGBT refugees. He made this known in a fiery letter to the state secretary.

"Since June we have gotten 60 reports of violence against LHBTI's in asylum centers. We have forwarded them to a hot line, but we have not heard anything further."

Kortekaas has been involved in his crusade since 2016. But an important question must be asked. Are separate LHBT-asylum centers the solution? If these asylum centers come, then it means that the anti-homosexual mob is still in the Netherlands with big results in the long term. The anti-homosexual sentiment will remain among these people, and it is this that must be tackled. Separate asylum centers are a temporary solution, but ultimately don't  cure the disease.

"We have been in discussion with the state secretary since 2016 on the subject of separate units for LHBTI-asylum-seekers. Because that works, especially for transgenders. We want every asylum center to be required to have such a unit," says Kortekaas. " We don't understand why there is still no policy that each asylum  center be required to have an LHBTI unit. We have reached rock bottom."