The AZC Balk was due to be closed in October, but it is not clear if this date will still be kept to
Translated by Thomas Ansell
The Asylum Seeker’s Centre in Balk is taking in new residents again, with the national Asylum Seeker’s Service (COA) lacking room in its own facilities, reports the Omrop Fryslân.
The Centre in Balk had been due to close in October, but throughout September another 250 people will be hosted. The Gemeente De Fryske Marren will be working with the COA during this period.
The Centre still has a slated closing date of October 1, with the Gemeente saying that its current residents are being ‘temporarily housed’. The COA is suffering a lack of available spaces in its centres, mainly due to an influx of people seeking family reunification.
Across the world, the pattern is familiar: husbands and fathers will often be the first people to leave their unsafe home countries to undertake the often-deadly journey to somewhere safer. Once they have secured their legal status, their wife and/or children will then make the journey themselves, and the family will then be able to live without fear and the threat of conflict.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
