Teenagers in deportation dispute allowed stay in Netherlands with mother

Two teenagers threatened with deportation to Angola with their father, who is suspected of war crimes during the Angolan civil war, are to be allowed to stay in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands' department of justice confirmed the sister and brother, named only as Márcia (18) and 13-year-old Glaucia, are to receive residence permits – after opposition to their expulsion was joined on Monday by the children's ombudsman, Marc Dullaert, who described it as "unacceptable".

The children’s mother will also be allowed to remain with them in the Netherlands, but their father is expected to be deported on Friday. Neither of the parents have been named.

The parents and children – who are spending their last few days together at a special family centre in the south of the country – are believed to have decided jointly that their mother would remain with the teenagers.

Although he has never faced charges of any kind, the children’s father is understood to have fought in the Angolan civil war, which ran from the end of Portuguese colonial rule in 1975 until 2002, and in which more than 500,000 people were killed.

Deportation

Commenting on the decision to go ahead with his deportation, a spokesman for the justice ministry said: “People who are legitimately fleeing war and misery should not be placed in a situation where they could come face to face with the cause of it here in the Netherlands.”

The Dutch government introduced an amnesty last year that would normally grant residence permits to children who have spent six years or more in the country – but because the father in this case does not qualify for refugee status, the children do not qualify.

Thirteen-year-old Glaucia has just started his second year in post-primary school, while Márcia, who came to the Netherlands as a toddler, is due to begin studying law at Erasmus University in Rotterdam this week.