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(Voice of Europe) Eritrean refugees barely work and around 90% live on benefits in the Netherlands

Posted by: Semere Asmelash

Date: Friday, 16 November 2018


Eritrean refugees barely work and around 90% live on benefits in the Netherlands

 By VOICE OF EUROPE  16 November 2018
Migrants are registered - MikeDotta / shutterstock.com

The around 20,000 Eritrean refugees in the Netherlands are mostly not well integrated, a newly published report of the Social Research Institute SCP shows.

Most of the refugees came to the Netherlands without their partners in 2015, according to the report. They fled from compulsory military service in Eritrea and for most of them the way to Europe was traumatising.

But after arriving in the Netherlands the Eritreans barely integrate as most don’t speak Dutch, lack skills and don’t have a job.

As they barely speak Dutch, the group’s social contacts are mostly limited to other Eritreans. It means that the group risks becoming ‘trapped in their own culture’ which hinders integration, the report says.

They’re also not in the possession of qualification for jobs like baker or furniture maker. It results in large numbers of them being unemployed.

Earlier research showed that only 11 per cent of refugees in the Netherlands from Eritrea or Syria have a job. These jobs also consist of part time jobs or subsidised jobs.

Like Syrians, Eritreans are also at risk of poverty. Around 80 per cent of Eritreans are having an income below the poverty threshold. Around 97 per cent of this group are dependent on benefits.



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