Dutch safety board gives minister six-month deadline over child asylum shelter conditions

Safety board findings and reception conditions

The Dutch Safety Board (Onderzoeksraad voor Veiligheid, OvV) published an investigative report on Monday, 21 September 2026, concluding that children in emergency asylum accommodations face structural insecurity and severe risks to their physical and psychological development. An estimated 7,000 children currently reside in temporary emergency sites across the Netherlands, including vacant office buildings, ships, event halls, container homes, and hotel rooms. More than 5,000 of these minors have lived in such facilities for over a year, and in some cases for more than two years. The board found that children frequently sleep in dormitories holding up to 70 people without privacy, or in cramped ship cabins lacking fresh air and natural daylight. Living quarters are often partitioned only by thin panels that do not reach the ceiling, leaving families exposed to constant noise, poor sanitation, and fluorescent lighting that remains switched on until 21:00.

If there is insufficient school and medical capacity, a location is opened anyway. Insecurity is being normalized.

Health impacts and disrupted education

The investigation showed that overcrowding and substandard infrastructure expose children to high risks of physical and sexual violence, abuse, and boundary-crossing behavior. Frequent relocations between reception sites, with some children moving up to 10 times in short periods, sever social stability and interrupt access to schooling. These transfers also disrupt continuity of essential healthcare, particularly specialized treatment for minors with chronic medical conditions. The board recorded widespread feelings of stress, powerlessness, and permanent alertness among children. Unaccompanied minors who arrived in the country without parents exhibited severe distress, including cases of self-harm and suicidal behavior.

Policy choices and emergency shelter expansion

The Dutch government first introduced emergency reception in 2020 as a last resort to address capacity shortages. Since 2021, the central government, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA), and municipal authorities have relied on unsuitable sites to quickly generate bed capacity. Emergency accommodation has expanded to represent more than 60% of all asylum reception locations nationwide, housing over 40% of all child asylum seekers as of 1 July 2025. The OvV emphasized that the ongoing situation is not an unavoidable disaster, but the direct result of administrative decisions and the repeated use of short-term crisis measures to manage systemic problems.

This crisis is not happening to us. This ongoing insecurity is caused by administrative choices and the continued adoption of crisis measures for structural problems.

Ultimatum to government and municipal response

The safety board issued a formal ultimatum to Minister of Asylum and Migration Bart van den Brink, demanding measurable improvements to child safety in emergency shelters within six months. The board urged the ministry to conduct site-specific risk assessments, establish binding safety standards, and comply with European reception directives. In an open letter to all Dutch municipalities, the OvV called on local leaders to cooperate in providing safe housing rather than imposing restrictive conditions on specific groups. Previous warnings from three state inspectorates, the Children's Ombudsman, and aid organizations produced few changes, while political measures such as the Distribution Law (Spreidingswet) faced continued legislative opposition from the Schoof cabinet.