The Dutch government announced last week that from 2013, it will no longer finance integration and language classes for newly arrived immigrants in the state. Despite an amendment proposed by opposition parties, it appears that there will be no exception for refugees in the Netherlands. The new measure is introduced as part of bill amending the Integration Act, which is currently being debated in parliament. Though under the proposed amendment, training will no longer be freely available to refugees, their ability to access a long term residence permit or citizenship status will still be dependent on whether they pass the state integration and language tests. This announcement signifies yet another obstacle for those attempting to gain long term residence and ultimately citizenship status in the state. However, it also reveals the ambivalent attitude that the Dutch Government has towards refugees living in the state. Continue reading “The removal of support for integration in the Netherlands: the case of the refugee”
Last month, a French-born convert to Islam (pictured left with Lies Hebbadj) was fined 22 euros in Nantes for driving while wearing a niqab on the basis that it was an impediment to her safe driving. This story has been elevated to the point where it threatens to prompt a change in French nationality law. Brice Hortefeux, the Minister of the Interior, called for her husband Lies Hebbadj to be stripped of his French nationality, complaining that Mr. Hebbadj was living in France with four wives and their children and defrauding the French state by having his wives claim welfare payments as lone parents. The Associated Press