Netherlands mulls sending rejected African asylum seekers to Uganda

The Dutch coalition government, headed by Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom party (PVV), is considering sending Africans whose asylum requests are rejected to Uganda, in plans that opposition politicians have said are “totally unfeasible”.

During a visit this week to the East African country, the Dutch minister for trade and development, Reinette Klever, said the cabinet was exploring the ideaand that Uganda was “not averse” to it, the Dutch public broadcaster Nos reported on Wednesday.

Klever offered few details and it is unclear whether such a plan would be legal or feasible, but it is reported to involve rejected asylum seekers from Uganda and the surrounding region – the exact list of countries has not been specified – being taken in by Uganda and hosted in exchange for financial compensation.

“In the end we want to curb migration,” said Klever, who is part of the PVV.

Her ministry said she had briefly discussed a number of possibilities for accommodation in Uganda and the region during her visit. The plan is in its early stages as the Dutch cabinet investigates “what legally is possible and desirable,” a spokesperson said in an email.

Uganda’s foreign affairs minister said the country was willing to contemplate the possibility. “We are open to any discussions,” Jeje Odongo told Nos.

However on Thursday another minister struck a firmer note. “I don’t think Uganda would agree to that,” Okello Oryem, Uganda’s state minister for foreign affairs, told Reuters, noting that his country already sheltered 1.6 million refugees from Sudan, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo.

“We don’t deport any refugees. Why do European countries deport refugees?”

Wilders welcomed the plan on social media, but other members of the country’s four-party coalition government were more hesitant given Uganda’s draconian anti-gay legislation and patchy human rights record.

“We have to be very vigilant when it comes to LGBTI people,” said Claudia van Zanten of the populist farmer’s party BBB. Diederik Boomsma of the anti-corruption NSC acknowledged Uganda’s human rights reputation was a concern.

Opposition politicians decried the idea. Jesse Klaver of the Green Left party said it was an effort to distract people from the scant progress the government had made in tackling broader issues. “They are not building houses, they are not managing to keep hospitals open,” he said.

The leader of D66, Rob Jetten, described the idea as “totally unfeasible and ill-considered”, citing the fact that similar plans had already been floated by Denmark and the UK. “The result? Zero people went to Africa,” he said.

The UK’s failed plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing, a policy of the previous Conservative government that was abandoned by the new Labour administraction, is estimated to have cost British taxpayers £700m. It was viewed as the most extreme form of “offshoring” asylum, in that even people with successful claims would have had to stay in Rwanda.

The coalition government in the Netherlands has focused much of its attention since taking office in July on curbing asylum, with promises to introduce the country’s “toughest ever” policy on immigration, even though EU data suggests the country has an average number of asylum requests among member states.

The Netherlands received two first-time asylum applications per 1,000 residents last year, matching the average across the bloc, according to the data. Ten member states, including Greece, Germany and Spain, reported higher ratios.

News of the Dutch plan comes days after the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, called for the idea of “return hubs” outside the EU to be explored, citing a deal between Italy and Albania as a possible model.