Ukrainians living in a refugee camp in the Dutch village of Harskamp, in the Gelderland province protested their living conditions in the camp on Saturday, bemoaning the poor education, lack of medical care and the sound of gunshots from the military training in the area.
The Netherlands has taken in more than 91,000 Ukrainian refugees since the start of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Dutch municipalities have asked the government for clarification regarding its long-term plans concerning the housing of Ukrainian refugees, with many indicating room for improvement in fields like access to psychological care and education.
“We live here like in the army. We have no privacy at all,” one of the protesting refugees told Omroep Gelderland. “The food is terrible, education is poor, and medical care is zero.”
“We want a normal life. This might be a good shelter for a short time. But we have been here for more than a year, and it is very difficult,” another refugee, Tatjana Kapikyan, added.
Inhabitants of the refugee camp were concerned about the fact that the Dutch army held military exercises in the area, with gunshots regularly being heard by inhabitants. Some refugees held up signs, reading: “Help please” or “Human rights?”.
“We know that in the Netherlands, everyone goes to school for five days,” one girl stated. “In two days, we don’t learn well. Only a few words. This is everything.”
The municipality acknowledged some of the complaints coming from the camp’s inhabitants.
“Some have been housed for over a year in military barracks that are not necessarily suitable for housing. It is certainly not an optimal housing location,” a spokesperson for the municipality told Omroep Gelderland in a written note.
“We are currently housing about 330 people. This number will grow to about 360 or 370 in the near future. More people used to live there, but that is no longer feasible in terms of circumstances,” he added.
The increased stream of refugees to the Netherlands since the start of the war in Ukraine has led to the government doubling down on its attempts to resolve the country’s housing crisis and accelerate the construction of new housing.
(Benedikt Stöckl | EURACTIV.com)
Source: euractiv.com
