Iraqi minister of Displacement and Migration to visit the Netherlands
The Iraqi minister of Displacement and Migration, Dindar Najman Shafiq Duski, will visit the Netherlands this coming June as a result of a conversation that his Netherlands counterpart minister Gerd Leers of Immigration, Integration and Asylum, initiated on Friday 18 May. The ministers will discuss the return of Iraqi asylum seekers who have been denied a residence permit in the Netherlands. Both ministers feel responsible for the issue.
During their conversation last Friday both ministers stressed that the issue of return is a shared responsibility. Minister Shafiq Duski has told minister Leers that Iraq appreciates the ongoing support of the Netherlands for Iraq and the Iraqi people. He noted that the Netherlands is not the only country from which Iraqi nationals return to Irak adding that return may cause problems with regards to employment but also psychological and social problems. Therefore, great caution is needed.
During their conversation the ministers also discussed the situation in Ter Apel where a group of (mostly Iraqi) asylum seekers are camping out of protest against the refusal to give them a residence permit. Minister Leers will provide them shelter until the arrival of minister Shafiq Duski with whom he will look for possibilities to strengthen the process of the return to Iraq, especially of voluntary return. According to minister Leers, the Iraqi protest in Ter Apel has entirely lost its necessity, now that minister Duski will visit the Netherlands.
