From the introduction
08/2012. The stories of
foreign nationals published in this report bear witness to despair and frustration.
By implementing the current method of immigration detention the government has
established a system that has a mind-numbing effect on many people. The
accounts given by foreign nationals inevitably have an undertone of despair,
because without the right to stay in the Netherlands they must leave the
country. If they do not leave the country, whether forced by circumstances or
of their own volition, the government acts to remove them mandatorily.
In and of itself it
is a legitimate goal for a government to restrict people's freedom pending successful
deportation. However, the way this restriction of freedom occurs under the current
regime of immigration detention impairs that legitimacy. A person is locked up sixteen
hours a day together with another detainee in a space of less than 10 m². Even
when allowed out, they are under supervision. They are allowed visits for two
hours per week. They are not allowed
to work. They cannot decide for themselves when they want to go out. They are
dependent on decisions taken by the supervisor and the director of the detention
centre. They have no idea how long all of this will last. Ultimately a foreign national
can be detained for as long as eighteen months and renewed periods of detention
are by no means the exception. In a nutshell, this is the situation of the
approximately 6,000 foreign nationals that the government keeps in immigration
detention each year.
