Ton Liefaard: Wake-up call for children’s rights in the Netherlands
In the media image: Ben Wicks on Unsplash
The youth care system in the Netherlands is facing deep-rooted and systemic problems, placing increasing pressure on children's rights. In the Noordhollands Dagblad, Ton Liefaard, Professor of Children’s Rights, calls it an extremely distressing situation that must be addressed.
Children’s rights are coming under increasing pressure in the Netherlands. Not every child has access to education, lives in a safe environment, or enjoys good health. The Dutch Safety Board (Onderzoeksraad voor Veiligheid, OvV) has expressed concern about children who spend years in emergency reception centres for asylum seekers. It was also announced this summer that the Netherlands has once again fallen in the annual KidsRights Index, the global ranking that measures respect of children's rights.
The decline in the international ranking comes as no surprise to Ton Liefaard: ‘Greater attention must be paid to the major, fundamental systemic problems that the Netherlands has been struggling with for some time.’ According to him, the poor living conditions faced by children in emergency reception centres for asylum seekers are nothing new. They are a reflection of the broader problems within the youth care system. ‘Emergency reception centres were introduced as a crisis measure, but they have become a permanent reality. For children in the Netherlands, it’s increasingly a case of sink or swim. And this in a country with unprecedented opportunities. It’s an extremely distressing situation, and one that we really need to address.’
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Read the full article in the Noordhollands Dagblad (€, in Dutch)