A long term project (2012-2014) about the asylem seekers in the Netherlands.
Worldwide, 19.5 million people have been forced to seek sanctuary abroad. Governments have a duty to help them. But most rich countries are still treating refugees as somebody else’s problem.
During the Dutch minority government (2010-2012) erroneous slogans about “free politics” became a real issue, as a more restrictive policy towards asylum seekers was implemented; the manipulating of legal procedures with the aim to receive fewer people.
Expelling refugees from the Netherlands had more prior than giving them asylum.
This was illustrated by the decision taken in 2012 to diminish the number of available places at the COA shelters (Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers).
The media estimated the reduction numbering between 1500 and 2100. Refugees were becoming an abstract object.
The photos portray the life of a single Somali woman who is 68 years old. She was the driving force that led me to follow the non-status refugees living in the Netherlands.
Fatima Omar wanders through the Dutch shelters.
She joined an organized group of refugees without status called “We are here” at the shelter campus Notweg in Amsterdam and at the Flight Church.
She has become entrenched to the Dutch Soil.
The world’s system for protecting refugees is broken.
