Netherlands

1. HIGHLIGHTS

a. Series of moderate and strong earthquakes have rocked cities and regencies in Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) since 29 July 2018; i.e. with the strongest shocks recorded M 7.0 (5 Aug), M 6.4 (29 Jul), and M 6.2 (9 Aug). Although the tremors were also felt in neighbouring province of Bali, only NTB Province declared emergency response status.

Baghdad – IOM, the UN Migration Agency, and the Government of the Netherlands have signed a strategic partnership agreement this past week to provide livelihood and psychosocial support to Iraqi youth in crisis-affected areas and to assist the Government of Iraq in addressing challenges related to migration management.

Key Figures
- 179,400 Libyans currently internally displaced (IDPs)
- 372,022 returned IDPs (returns registered in 2016 - April 2018)
- 54,112 registered refugees and asylum-seekers in the State of Libya
- 18,039 persons arrived in Italy by sea in 2018
- 783 monitoring visits to detention centres so far in 2018
- 1,527 asylum-seekers and refugees released from detention so far in 2018
- 1,858 vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers evacuated since November 2017

Funding

USD 85 M required for 2018

Over 15,000 politicians, policymakers, activists, researchers and advocates from more than 160 countries will be in Amsterdam this week for the 22nd International AIDS Conference, where they will share new research and learn from one another about better ways to combat the disease.

Arrivals

48,300 in Q1+Q2 2018
102,800 in Q1+Q2 2017

178,500 in 2017
362,300 in 2016

Dead and Missing

1,288 in Q1+Q2 2018
2,301 in Q1+Q2 2017

3,139 in 2017
5,096 in 2016

Objective: To safeguard livelihoods and enhance the food security and nutrition of El-Niño-induced drought affected households in Eswatini.

Key partners: Eswatini Ministry of Agriculture, Baphalali Swaziland Red Cross Society, Action Cooperative Agriculture Trust, World Vision Swaziland and the National Disaster Management Agency.

Beneficiaries reached: 1 250 households.

Activities implemented:

• Identified selected and sensitized beneficiaries.

Objective:

Reduce the risk of cattle mortality and support agricultural production in the lowlands.

Key partners: Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and National Institute for Disaster Management.

Beneficiaries reached: 231 729 households.

Activities implemented:

• Procured and distributed eight balers for fodder harvesting, which contributed to the feeding of 20 000 cattle in 10 000 households.

Summary

Europe is a destination for people seeking international protection or a better life, due to wars, political turmoil and the poverty affecting its neighbouring regions. This inflow adds to the migrants and refugees who have already settled in Europe. At the same time, populists question Europe’s capacity to absorb a greater number of migrants and refugees, as well as the latter’s willingness to integrate.

The Dutch government will support displaced Iraqis returning to towns and villages recently occupied by ISIS. Sigrid Kaag, the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, announced the support during a visit to Mosul, the liberated city in northern Iraq where the terrorist organisation declared the caliphate in 2014.

Twenty-one humanitarian and human rights organizations respond with dismay to the Dutch Parliament’s approval of the EU’s new asylum plans to offshore asylum protection. With a joint appeal, they ask the government for a humane asylum policy, in line with international law.

The 2018 Refugee Food Festival will see refugee chefs and locals come together to share food and friendship in cities around the world.

GENEVA, Switzerland – The third Refugee Food Festival is coming to 14 cities around the world in June, bringing locals and refugee chefs together to share food and friendship.

Overview

During the first three months of 2018, almost 9,700 refugees were submitted by UNHCR for resettlement1 to 13 countries in Europe.2 This is similar to the first quarter of 2017 and already almost twothirds of the average rate of 15,400 submissions per year during the previous 10 years.

The relocation scheme established by Council Decisions 2015/1523 and 2015/1601 (“Relocation Decisions”) to assist Italy and Greece over a two-year period from September 2015 has sparked heated debates at the EU level. Even though the Relocation Decisions formally expired on 26 September 2017, their effects continue to live on in the ongoing processing of pending relocation cases. At the same time, the relocation of asylum seekers has been at the heart of animated discussions on the reform of the Dublin system and sharing of protection responsibility between EU Member States.

The conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic has resulted in one of the worst humanitarian and displacement crises in decades and the largest refugee crisis in modern times. With fighting and mass displacement continuing in many parts of Syria, there are over 5.6 million Syrian refugees across the region and some 6.6 million Syrians internally displaced. Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey have shouldered the largest burden in hosting Syrian refugees.

Baghdad, 15 May 2018 – Today, UNICEF Iraq and the Government of the Netherlands have signed an agreement of US$ 6.2 million to support Education for children of refugees, IDP’s and families returning home after the war. The agreement forms part of the new Government of the Netherlands policy to provide targeted support for refugees and displaced persons in the affected locations, including decent education for children in displacement.

DEVELOPMENTS

COUNTRIES OF FIRST ARRIVAL

Bamako, le 30 avril 2018 - Les pays du BENELUX (la Belgique, les Pays-Bas et le Luxembourg) se félicitent de la décision de janvier 2018 de créer une Commission d’enquête internationale chargée de faire la lumière sur les crimes et autres violations graves du droit international et des droits de l’Homme sur le territoire malien depuis janvier 2012, telle que prévue dans l’Accord pour la Paix et la Réconciliation au Mali (Accord d’Alger).

Speaking at the DRC Humanitarian Conference in Geneva on Friday, development minister Sigrid Kaag announced that the Netherlands will make over €10 million available this year for humanitarian assistance to the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The conference was organised by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), the EU and the Netherlands.

On Wednesday, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Sigrid Kaag announced at an international conference in Brussels that the Netherlands will continue to provide support aimed at relieving the suffering of Syrians in Syria and its neighbouring countries and helping to maintain regional stability.