Here is what you can do if you are unhappy with the COA's reception centre
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If you are dissatisfied with the reception centre where you are staying, you can talk to COA or the municipality to complain or protest.
COA or the municipality arranges your place in a reception centre
If you apply or want to apply for asylum in the Netherlands, the
Dissatisfied with reception centre conditions
You may not like the conditions at a reception centre. Poor conditions include:
The reception centre that is not suitable for lodging. It is too cold, dirty or there is little privacy.
The quality of food in a reception centre is not good.
There is no education for children under 18 years of age.
There are too few activities at a reception centre.
The location is not appropriate for you because of medical problems.
You are not in the same reception centre as your family members.
In conversation with employees at the location
Are you dissatisfied with your reception centre for any of the above reasons? Or about something else? Then you can first have a conversation with an employee of your reception centre or your contact person at the municipality. Indicate that you would like to talk about the problems you are experiencing at the reception centre. You can prepare for this conversation. For example by listing the problems for yourself:
What the problem is.
Since when this has been the case.
What the effect is on you or your family.
If you already have your own ideas for possible solutions, you can also bring them up in the conversation.
Are the facilities in the reception centre not good?
Ask if you can work with other residents to form a residents' council. A residents' council is a group of residents who work with COA to come up with solutions to improve their stay at the reception centre. The residents' council gathers the problems of everyone at the reception centre. Once every two weeks or once a month, the residents' council meets with COA. Together they devise solutions. For example, if something is broken in the reception centre that needs to be fixed.
Is the quality of the food not good?
Is the quality of the food not good?
You can ask if residents can cook their own meals. This can be done together with fellow residents through a cooking schedule. In some reception centres, residents cook part of their own meals themselves (for example, breakfast and lunch). If there is no kitchen, you can ask COA if it is possible to arrange mobile kitchens for you to cook in. Residents in a temporary reception centre in Zuidbroek arranged this together with COA, after the residents had expressed their dissatisfaction with the food.
Are there too few activities to do at your reception centre?
You can ask if they can organise more activities at the reception centre. You can also say that you and other residents would like to help organise the activities. This can be done together with organisations within the municipality, for example. At a temporary reception centre in Amsterdam, residents worked with the organisation OpenEmbassy to organise dinners for neighbours. In this way, residents got to know people from the neighbourhood.
Is there no education for children under 18?
Children under the age of 18 in an asylum reception centre have a right to education. This is stated in the reception centre directive. If education is not available to them at the reception centre, this is a violation of their rights. Explain that children have the right to education and other facilities such as indoor and outdoor play areas. You can also report this to a staff member of VluchtelingenWerk Nederland (VWN) at your location.
Filing a complaint
If you are unable to have a conversation with COA or the municipality, or if the conversation did not improve your stay in the reception centre, you can file a complaint against COA or the municipality about the reception centre. You can file a complaint for several reasons.
Complaining to COA.
There are two ways to file a complaint with COA:
You can use COA's complaint form for this purpose. COA's complaints procedure is not intended for complaints about residents. You can contact a COA employee at the location about this.
COA complaint form
You can also file a complaint with COA by letter. Your letter or email must be written in Dutch or English. Send your letter or email to: Legal Affairs Team PO Box 30203 2500 GE The Hague info@coa.nl
Complaining to the municipality
If your reception centre is managed by the municipality and not COA, you must file a complaint with the municipality. How you can file a complaint depends on the municipality. Sometimes you will find information on the reception centre about how to contact your municipality.
Contact details of municipalities
Here is what you can do if your complaint is not resolved
If your complaint is not properly resolved by the COA or the municipality, you can report this to the National Ombudsman within one year of your complaint. You can only file your complaint to the National Ombudsman in Dutch. National Ombudsman staff will see what they can do for you. They will refer you to the right address or help you by investigating your complaint.
Filing your complaint online with the National Ombudsman
Contacting the National Ombudsman
Demonstrating about the reception centre
If you are dissatisfied with the reception centre, you are also allowed to protest. In the Netherlands, the right to protest is in the Dutch constitution. This falls under freedom of speech, which applies in the Netherlands. Even if you do not yet have a 5-year asylum residence permit, you are entitled to protest.
If you want to protest, these points are important to you:
You must tell the municipality that you are going to protest. Do this 48 hours in advance via your municipality's website. This is because the municipality must support your protest. For example, if you need traffic controllers for your protest, the municipality must arrange this for you. If you are going to protest on your own, you do not have to let them know.
You do not need a permit to protest, nor do you need government permission.
The police may not simply break up your protest. Only the mayor of the municipality can restrict or prohibit your protest.
While you are demonstrating the police should protect you from public.