Ministerie van Justitie, Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst

A report published today by the National Ombudsman on research carried out into the drawing up and use of individual official reports in asylum cases revealed that the National Ombudsman takes a critical view of asylum procedures. The report included various recommendations directed at the IND and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

The IND disputes the National Ombudsman’s claim that the asylum procedure is not always fair and that the IND is biased and prejudiced. The IND is an open, professional and reliable organisation. In order to guarantee quality, the IND continuously invests in its working processes and training for its employees. If the recommendations made by the National Ombudsman are of use in this respect, the IND will certainly take these on board for the purpose of further improving its services.

In asylum procedures, the burden of proof rests upon the foreign national. An individual official report is only requested if it is not possible to reach a well-considered decision on the application for asylum in the absence of further investigations. The court has on several occasions issued positive statements with regard to the status that can and may be awarded to official reports, namely to the effect that these are expert opinions which may serve as a basis for a decision. One explanation of the fact that, in a large proportion of those cases in which an official report is requested, the application is refused, may also be that the IND had good reason for doubting the truthfulness of the account given by the foreign national and rightly made arrangements for investigations to be carried out. 

Any recommendations made by the National Ombudsman that may lead to an improvement in the services provided by the IND will of course be adopted.