News from Amsterdam


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11/1 Jurists want to stay in Oudemanhuispoort

8/2 Mayor’s portrait

8/2 Websites for social cohesion

7/2 Spreading tourism proceeds with difficulty

7/2 GroenLinks on districts: Be a man

6/2 Zuideramstel opens new office on Sabbath

5/2 The truth about integration

4/2 Wilders has little support on Amsterdam

3/2 Elite involved in neighbourhood

2/2 Johnnie Walker avoids taxes in Amsterdam

1/2 Rotterdam to tinker with district councils as well

31/1 Wooden rowing boats to disappear from Amstel

31/1 ZeeburgTV launched

27/1 Privacy activists to mess up loyalty card system

27/1 A few were still coughing, but that was an act

27/1 Chrisis in de Baarsjes

26/1 Youth have positive view of districts

24/1 Action groups call for Carmel and Jaffa boycott

24/1 PvdA members dismiss plan for districts

23/1 KLM takes on crisis with new uniform

23/1 District office not squatted

21/1 Merge districts

20/1 Closing squat bar Vrankrijk not necessary

20/1 Cleaners welcome new Schiphol director

18/1 Palestine at the Jewish Historical Museum

18/1 What is the right size for a district?

17/1 PvdA Oost against fewer districts

16/1 Committee: 7 districts by 2010

15/1 Soldiers may attend Afghanistan debate after all

15/1 Bait bike leads to arrest

14/1 Youth for Christ to republish vacancies

13/1 Paintings of the Zuidas

13/1 New Youth for Christ contoversy

11/1 Social cohesion initiative raises eyebrows

10/1 Fewer districts in 2010

10/1 Zuidas: People feel that we are losers

9/1 Fun on the ice - but not for all

9/1 Supermarket coupon fraud thwarted

9/1 I Amsterdam must remain exclusive

8/1 Use term Apartheid in every discussion

8/1 No city kiosk in Amsterdam yet

7/1 Snow

7/1 Fatima Elatik to run Zeeburg

7/1 Municipal managers to return to shop floor

4/1 Police: take photo of strange people

3/1 Gaza protest criticises politicians

1/1 Thousands to protest against attacks on Gaza

1/1 Mustapha Laboui leaves district council

 

2008 Archive

2007 Archive

2006 Archive

2005 Archive

 

 

 

 

Open letter to Minister Verdonk

Hui is free, and now the others

Estimated Minister M.C.F. Verdonk,

An eight-year old boy from Amsterdam was in jail. What had he done? Nothing. I am talking about Hui, the Chinese boy who was born and raised in the Netherlands. A boy who has been going to school here in Amsterdam for years. Nine more children are in jail, with comparable backgrounds. When will you let them go? Do you find rules more important than being humane? And do you approve that innocent children are in jail? I invite you to discuss this.

Hui’s mother has no legal options left and has to return to China. Because she has no valid papers, China will not let her in. So she is in a deadlock, a deadlock that parents from other countries also regularly end up in. These parents can choose to send their children to foster parents. But is that an option? Would you leave your children behind? One should not separate parents and children, certainly not after a traumatic journey. This is my opinion as a mother, but most of all as a human being.

The Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND), for which you are responsible, says that children at the Zeist detention centre go to school as usual. However, during the trial, Hui said that he was allowed to use a computer for one hour per day. That is not attending classes. Eight year old boys and girls do not belong in jail. The Dutch asylum policy violates the Rights of the Child.

According to the organisation Defence for Children, nine more children are in jail in Zeist. Surely other options are available for such a small number of children? For example, the parent could be kept under guarded house arrest, or in electronic detention. At least, children would then be able to go to school and to play freely, like other children.

Municipalities have for some time been confronted with problems caused by the failing deportation policies of the national government, and now it appears that even children are victims of this. When people have to be deported, then so to it that they are, instead of letting them wander around in the Netherlands for years and then putting them in jail for months. Unfortunately, you advised against a motion proposed by PvdA MP De Vries. This motion asked to listen to the widely supported call not to put parents with under age children in jail. You say that you are doing your best, but that is not enough for the nine children who are currently in jail. Only a definitive solution will help these children.

Awaiting your response,
Yours truly,
Manon van der Garde
Party Leader of the Amsterdam PvdA (Social-Democrats)

 

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