Today, in yet another reason why I keep pointing to these issues, via DutchNews.nl – Suicide attempt leads to warning on asylum seeker mental health
Lawyers specialising in asylum cases are setting up a special group to draw attention to the serious mental health problems among people who fear being deported, Trouw reports on Thursday.
On Tuesday, an asylum seeker in Limburg, thought to be a Liberian man, set himself on fire and is seriously ill in hospital. Earlier this year, an Iran man died after setting himself on fire on Dam square in Amsterdam.
‘There are so many [mental] wrecks walking around. Not a day goes by that I don’t hear about a suicide plan or attempted suicide,’ lawyer Alie Westerhuis told the paper.
‘So many people are in a panic. I have clients who cry all day, who are really broken. I know one girl who tried to hang herself from from a football goal,’ she said.
According to immigration minister Gerd Leers, 40 asylum seekers have killed themselves in refugee centres since 2002 and there are some 40 attempts a year.
In particular, families who did not qualify for the general amnesty of a few years ago but have lived here for upwards of 10 years are desperate, Westerhuis said. ‘They now see how hopeless it is.’
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