Dutch Television Show Highlights Plight of Asylum Seekers
A controversial one-off television show reached out to the Dutch mainstream last night to highlight the plight of asylum seekers in a satirical and humorous manner.
The game show, entitled “Weg Van Nederland” (“Out of the Netherlands”) placed five rejected asylum seekers against one another for a cash prize of euro 4,000.
However, the winner will not be given the money until they have been deported. The money will be given so as to aid the winner in rebuilding their lives outside the Netherlands.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Among the contestants on the show was an aeronautical engineer and a Slavic languages student.
The show has raised questions on the ethics of exploiting the plight of less fortunate individuals and has been described as “sick” and “tasteless.”
However, others are arguing that although the show may be tasteless, it is purposefully shocking and is laced with a critique of the current asylum policy of the Dutch government.
Around 15,000 people apply for asylum in the country annually.
The contestants, who have spent most of their lives in the country, speak fluent Dutch, and will likely dismantle the common widespread perception in the country that immigrants fail to integrate into Dutch society and culture.
The quiz incorporated a series of questions about Dutch history, society, and culture.
The director of the leading refugee support group in the country, Wonter van Zandwijk said, “Yes, the program was sick. But the reality is sick too.”
He added, “Often our government invests in the education and integration of immigrant children, then, just as we are about to harvest that investment and see them become hard-working Dutch taxpayers, they run out of legal options. That’s when we send them away.”
