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A delegation of the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) carried out a visit to the Netherlands from 6 to 17 October 2025. It was the Committee’s fourteenth visit, and its seventh ad hoc visit, to the Netherlands.
In the course of the visit, the delegation assessed the treatment and conditions in facilities dedicated to the detention of foreign nationals, under either penal or administrative legislation.
During the visit, the delegation held consultations with David van Weel, Minister of Foreign Affairs and of Asylum and Migration, and Arno Rutte, Minister for Legal Protection, as well as with senior officials from the Ministry of Asylum and Migration and the Ministry of Justice and Security. The delegation also met Galina Cornelisse, Professor of Courts and Transnational Justice at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, representatives of the Inspectorate for Justice and Security as well as representatives of civil society organisations working in the area of immigration detention.
At the end of the visit, the delegation provided the Dutch authorities with its preliminary observations.
The visit was carried out by Gunda Wössner (Head of delegation), Tom Daems, and Nikola Kovačević, CPT members. They were supported by Marco Leidekker, Head of Division, and Ella Dodd of the CPT Secretariat, and assisted by Jake Hard, General Practitioner working in prisons (United Kingdom).
The delegation visited the following places of detention:
- DC Schiphol
- DC Rotterdam
- PI Ter Apel
- Holding Cells of the Royal Dutch Constabulary at Schiphol airport
