In September 2023, there was a marked increase in the number of minors who have travelled to the Netherlands unaccompanied by their parents to seek asylum, with 915 cases reported by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND).
The IND report shows that throughout 2023, the trend has consistently shown more applications from unaccompanied minor foreign nationals (UMFN) each month compared to the same month a year ago.
In 2023, unaccompanied minors account for approximately 15 per cent of first-time asylum applications, a marked increase from 12 per cent in 2022.
The number of asylum applications by minors has been increasing for a longer time. Up to and including September of this year, IND received almost 4,000 applications from children under the age of 18 (3,864). This is almost equal to the total number of applications by unaccompanied children travelling in 2022 (4,210). In 2021, there were still approximately half of this (2,191).
As data show, Syrian unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in the Netherlands make up the largest group.
In recent years, almost half of unaccompanied minors were of Syrian origin. In 2023, as of October 12, there were 1,865 (48 per cent) Syrian unaccompanied minors.
Syrian unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in the Netherlands are followed by nationals of Eritrea, Somalia, Iraq, and Yemen:
- Eritreans (19 per cent)
- Somalis (ten per cent)
- Iraqis (six per cent)
- Yemenis (three per cent)
As for the number of UMFN applications for family reunification with their brothers and sisters, data show that up to and including August, it reached a total of 6,080, compared to 3,850 in the same period last year.
Taking into account the figures, Niels Krouwel, who is responsible for unaccompanied minor foreign nationals (UMFN) within the Asylum and Protection Department of the IND, expressed concern about the growing number.
In this regard, he pointed out that these children have often experienced significant challenges at a very young age. As Krouwel explains, they tend to feel a heavy burden of responsibility for their entire family, which remains in their country.
IND has revealed that it is deploying additional staff members to deal with the increased number of asylum applications from UMFN. The schedule of cases has also been adjusted.
The authority said that experienced staff members now do an initial screening to determine how complex an application is, adding that accelerated processing of less complicated applications is sometimes possible.
