(Adnkronos) – The Dutch government has bet on the Trump model in the field of immigration and chosen to enter into an agreement with Uganda that provides for the sending of dozens of migrants, similar to the one reached by the American Administration. This was explained by the Dutch Minister of Migration and Foreign Affairs, David van Weel, in an interview with the Financial Times, saying that a “transit hub” could become operational in Uganda as early as next year, where people would be deported. There will be legal difficulties that the government will have to face, Van Weel admitted, but the agreement is “in accordance with international law, European law, and our national laws.” The Netherlands is the second country in the European Union, after Italy, to enter into an agreement with a non-EU country to host rejected asylum seekers. Italy is currently sending rejected asylum seekers to Albania.
Human rights are a central component of the agreement reached last month with Kampala, ”it is clear that they will be respected”, said van Weel, adding that he had asked the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to manage the centers on the ground. The agreement resembles the one reached by American President Donald Trump with Uganda in August to accept asylum seekers rejected by the United States. The difference is that Washington did not seek the collaboration of any United Nations agency in its expulsion plans.
Van Weel explained that the pilot project would primarily target people from the African region, “largely from countries surrounding Uganda.” The minister explained that “at the moment we have a clear system for asylum applications, but too many people remain here when they should return. We must ensure that people who do not actually have the right to remain here in Europe leave.”
The Dutch agreement, which is yet to be finalized, provides that Uganda will accept people whom the Dutch government has been unable to repatriate to their countries of origin, as specified by van Weel. But there are exceptions. Lgbt+ people, for example, will not be sent to Uganda to protect them from the discriminatory laws in force in the African country, which punish homosexuality with life imprisonment or even the death penalty. “I think we have a responsibility for the people we send there,” said the Dutch minister, “There is also a responsibility on the Ugandan side.”
Vincent Bagiire, permanent secretary of the Ugandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that Uganda has proposed measures to the Netherlands similar to the agreement with the United States, which include “the acceptance of people with no criminal record and people of African origin who will not use Uganda for political activism.” Uganda, he added, will not accept unaccompanied minors. “Uganda hosts both IOM and UNHCR, and we will collaborate to benefit from their expertise in migration,” Bagiire said.
