NETERLANDS – The Dutch government agreed on strict new asylum measures on Friday, including differentiating between refugees based on their reason for claiming asylum. The proposals approved by the Dutch cabinet will still need to go to the Council of State, an independent adviser to the government, to make sure they are legally sound and can be implemented. “This cabinet is heading for the strictest asylum regime and the strictest admission requirements ever,” Minister of Asylum and Migration Marjolein Faber said in a statement. She is part of the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV). Ministers from all coalition parties (PVV, VVD, BBB and NSC) have backed the move to tighten the rules to try and reduce the amount of asylum seekers going to the Netherlands.

This includes the Asylum Emergency Act which aims to abolish permanent residence permits. The effect of this is that refugees may not be able to stay indefinitely and would face periodic reviews of their status. The proposed law would also limit the validity of asylum permits to three years, restrict the number of family members that can join refugees permanently and extend the declaration of undesirability, which if issued means that you are not allowed to enter the Netherlands. Another proposed law would focus on differentiating between asylum seekers. It would make a distinction between people fleeing dangerous situations because of ethnicity, sexual orientation or religion, and people fleeing war and violence. The idea behind it is that people who flee war and violence will eventually return to their country of origin when it is safe there again. (Euronews)