The asylum procedure of Tamils and Iranians in the Netherlands in the mid-1980s Patience and perseverance. The asylum procedure of Tamils and Iranians in the Netherlands in the mid-1980s Authors frequently refer to the mid-1980s as a watershed in West European asylum policies. Suddenly, large numbers of asylum seekers appeared from unfamiliar countries of origin. In response, the Dutch government, and that of other European countries, introduced restrictive measures. The general belief is that prior to this period it was easy to obtain refugee status, but now it became virtually impossible. When we look at case files of the Ministry of Justice on Tamils from Sri Lanka and Iranians, we see that few of them were rejected, although many cases did involve endless procedures. This article seeks to explain this apparent contradiction. One thing was clear: patience and perseverance were needed from those who wanted to stay. Many authors have argued that in the mid-1980s the West experienced a 'refugee crisis' because of the arrival of 'New Refugees' and 'New Asylum Seekers'. 1 The refugees were new because they fled from different countries and presented different flight motives than those who came before. Their arrival in unprecedented numbers caused a crisis in many European countries, including the Netherlands, and resulted in drastic policy changes. 2 As a consequence, fewer asylum seekers navigated successfully through the asylum procedure. 3 In the 1980s asylum seekers and refugees lost the positive image
After the Second World War, Dutch authorities allowed 8,000 displaced persons (DPs) to come to the Netherlands, but only 3,904 came, and 25 per cent of them returned to camp life in Germany. This article seeks to explain why debates on the DP issue changed so rapidly within a short period of time. In earlier publications, it has been claimed that ‘selling’ DPs as workers helped to solve the DP issue. This strategy did not work for the Netherlands. This article analyses how the DP issue was framed by organisations, the Dutch government, civil servants, the Dutch Homeland Security Department, newspapers and employers.
This article analyses newspaper coverage, government policies and policy practices during the 1956 Hungarian refugee crisis. There were surprisingly few differences between newspapers in the coverage of this refugee migration, and few changes over time. The role of the press was largely supportive of government policies, although the press did criticise the selection of refugees. According to official government guidelines, officials should not have selected, but in practice this is what they attempted to do. The refugees who arrived in the Netherlands did not live up to the image the press, in its supportive role, had created: there were too few freedom fighters, women and children. This article shows that the press had an influence because policy makers did make adjustments. However, in practice selection was not what the media assumed it was, and the corrections were not what the media had aimed for.
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