The Goedwerk Foundation, a Dutch NGO, has been able to track down rejected asylum seekers and get them to go back to conflict-ridden countries like Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, and Ethiopia, the NRC daily reports.
The NGO helps undocumented migrants who have been living in the Netherlands for years to return home, even to dangerous countries, according to the Dutch newspaper.
Goedwerk refers to these nations, to which the Dutch government is legally prohibited from deporting individuals, as its "focus countries."
In 2023, two years after the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, the foundation managed to guide the majority of its returnees to that country, followed by Syria, Libya, and Ethiopia.
The foundation, which says on its website that it also helps its "clients" to settle in third countries, serves as an instrument for the government to get rejected asylum seekers whom it is unable to deport to leave the Netherlands.
To achieve this, Goedwerk implements its own methods, offering migrants thousands of euros to encourage them to leave. If the financial incentive does not work, pressure can be applied, according to 16 former clients of Goedwerk interviewed by NRC.
In response to these claims, Goedwerk told NRC that clients voluntarily return to their countries of origin. “This is so even if (former) clients may have felt otherwise,” the NGO said. “Any opinions or feelings they may have cannot be imputed to Goedwerk.”
The NGO also pointed out that it has helped over 450 persons to return home successfully since 2014.
