A new agreement signed between IOM The
Hague and the Dutch government will provide increased financial
support for the reintegration of rejected asylum seekers
voluntarily returning to their home countries with IOM
support.

Each adult will now receive € 1,750 and
while a family will get € 875 for each child in order to help
them rebuild their lives in their countries of origin.

In order to qualify for the increased
reintegration assistance, rejected asylum seekers need to be
returning home voluntarily and must have filed their asylum claims
in the Netherlands before 15 June 2006.

IOM expects to assist 3,820 rejected asylum
seekers with this reintegration assistance until the end of 2007
with funding from the Dutch Foreign Ministry. Over the past four
years, an average of 15,000 rejected asylum seekers apply for
voluntary return and reintegration assistance each year with about
10 per cent of them meeting the qualification criteria.

IOM’s chief of mission in The Hague,
Joost van der Aalst, said this money will help many families to
rebuild their lives. “We consider this return and
reintegration assistance a big improvement in addressing the option
of voluntary return for rejected asylum seekers. This financial
return assistance, to be used at their discretion, is very often a
positive incentive to return to their home countries without
feeling defeated.”

For more information contact:

Joost Oostlander

IOM The Hague

Tel: +31.70.3181500

E-mail: "mailto:joostlander@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">joostlander@iom.int