Dutch authorities are investigating the death of a three-month-old baby on Thursday August 25 at the country's main center for asylum seekers, an overcrowded establishment with, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), "
inhumane living conditions
".
"
Inspectors from Youth Services and the Ministry of Justice are investigating the child's death, which occurred in a sports hall used as an emergency shelter for asylum seekers
," the official said. Dutch Ministry of Justice.
“
At this time, not much is known about the death of the baby, but the first aid given did not resuscitate the child
,” the ministry said in a statement released on Wednesday evening.
“Act quickly”
The infant death has drawn attention to the Ter Apel center in the north of the Netherlands, where doctors are comparing reception conditions to the worst situations seen in refugee centers along European borders.
The Dutch branch of Médecins Sans Frontières deployed to the center of Ter Apel on Thursday, a first for the organization which usually provides medical aid in war zones.
Read alsoMigrants: how the relocation of asylum seekers is systemic in Rwanda
“
As of today we are giving medical care to Ter Apel
,” MSF said in a tweet.
“
The living conditions there are inhumane and must be improved immediately
,” the organization said.
“
The government must now act quickly.
In the meantime, we will not leave people stranded at the gates of Ter Apel
,” MSF added.
"
The conditions found by Médecins Sans Frontières would be similar to those of the Moria camp in Lesbos (Greece)
", for its part indicated the public broadcaster NOS.
“
There are no showers and the toilets are dirty
,” he added.
“
We have reached a sad level in our country
,” added Groningen Mayor Koen Schuiling, calling on other municipalities in the Netherlands to open their doors to help ease overcrowding in Ter Apel.
Asylum seeker crisis
But plans to house asylum seekers elsewhere sometimes face fierce opposition.
Residents of the small town of Albergen (East) have been protesting for days against plans by the Dutch refugee agency to house up to 300 asylum seekers in a hotel.
Chanting slogans like “
No to asylum seekers!
and "
Go! "
residents said the decision was forced on them despite objections that the town was too small for the influx of hundreds of foreigners.
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Experts say the current asylum seeker crisis is not due to more people crossing the border into the Netherlands but rather to a housing shortage in the Netherlands and the fact that the Dutch government had reduced its reception capacity for asylum seekers, whose numbers had dropped during the coronavirus pandemic.
