Lost time

In this report the Advisory Committee on Migration Affairs (ACVZ) addressed the question of how the opportunities for aliens in reception facilities to engage in activities relate to the aims of reception policy. To answer this question, the Committee examined the legal and other conditions governing participation in activities in reception centres; how
the organisation of the centres influences the daily activities of the aliens housed there; developments in reception over the last few years in statistical terms and what authors on this subject and the people who live and work in the facilities think of the opportunities for pursuing activities there. The Committee spoke to staff of the Central Agency for the
Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA), the Repatriation and Departure Service (DT&V), the Dutch Refugee Council and the International Organization for Migration at a number of locations and in different types of facility (asylum seekers’ centres (AZCs), the restrictive accommodation centre and the family accommodation centre). In addition, it consulted
other organisations involved in this field and interviewed aliens who have resided or are currently residing in a reception facility.