Presenting the challenges of migration and refuge for LGBTQI+ asylum seekers

Visual notes from congress by Ymke Wieringa

On June 2, 2025, 10 volunteers from LGBT World Beside took part in the national congress From Migration to Participation. The congress was organized by the Government of the Netherlands (Rijksoverheid) and The Association of the Netherlands' Municipalities (VNG), and joined by representatives from the government, municipalities, GO’s and NGO’s in the social sector.

Our volunteers met a few hours ahead of the start of the congress to have a team breakfast. It was an amazing moment as some of us have only seen each other online, and met in person for the first time. After we went through the agenda for the day, it was already time to rush to the first event – the opening plenary session.

The beautiful hall of Beatrixgebouw is fully packed with people, and it’s time to start!

The first speaker, Naema Tahir, human rights lawyer and publicist, sets the tone of the day with her personal story of migration, touching and inspiring. She does a roll call of the participants in the hall, most of them from municipalities and NGOs. Surprisingly, there is only but one journalist in the room, which feels very strange given the heated debates about asylum and migration in the Dutch society, media and politics.

After Naema, the first keynote speaker takes the stage. Paul Scheffer, “a rock star of migration research”, gives a dynamic presentation of the demographic trends of migration to the Netherlands, and possible scenarios for the coming 25 years. Following him, philosopher of law Tamar de Waal shares the insights from research into the politics of immigration in the Western countries. One of the most pressing issues, she says, is the democratic erosion – the subtle undercurrent tendency that threatens to undermine the struggle for a just and fair state politics.

Paul Scheffer gives a presentation on migration trends

Then Naema is back on stage with the three participants of the plenary discussion: Frank Candel, Chairman of the Board of VluchtelingenWerk, Mark Boumans, Vice-chairman of VNG and mayor of Doetinchem, and Rhodia Maas, Director General of the The Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND). They commented on the issues taken up by keynote speakers: the distribution of the migrants and refugees across the municipalities, the division of responsibilities in the integration process and the different stakeholders’ standpoints on the issues of asylum and migration.

 After the plenary, we go straight to our first workshop.

The project managers of Psy4Queer present the current psychological support activities of LGBT World Beside, our future plans and possibilities for collaboration.

 During the lunch break, we split up to visit the different stands at the infomarket, get to know other participants and chat with friends and colleagues.

At our second workshop, the team presents Spelletjesdag, Proud Integration and other projects aimed at smooth and inclusive integration of queer asylum seekers and status holders.

A few of us have a chance to also take part in other workshops. One of those, facilitated jointly by COA, VNG and the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV), is about a new “fast track” program for professional realization and career development of the refugees in three pilot municipalities. Another one, by Thuis in Oss, is particularly captivating, as the residents of an AZC in Oss present their community activities and working groups.

The punchline of the day is a vibrant and emotional stand up bit by Saman Amini, comedian and actor. As Saman made jokes about the pressure to learn Dutch when you are a newcomer, we, the newcomers still adjusting to the language, laughed even more than the rest of the audience. It was a beautiful performance, resonating with our struggles to find belonging in the Netherlands, something every immigrant can relate to.

Finally, after the closing plenary, there was some space and time for informal chats and networking, and, of course, enjoying some bitterballen. We left Beatrixgebouw tired, but in a good way – with feeling of gratitude and a lot of thoughts and reflections to unpack.

We would like to thank the organizers and all the participants for making this congress possible. A second, more detailed report on this event will follow in the next couple of weeks.