The Netherlands must not do everything in its power to evacuate four Afghan families from Kabul within two weeks. This is the opinion of the administrative court in a case that the families had brought against the Dutch state. According to the judge, the Netherlands has never made an official decision to evacuate the families and they can therefore not derive any rights from it.

The families say that on the date of this pledge has been announced. They invoked, among other things, the Belhaj movement, in which the House of Representatives ordered the government to evacuate interpreters and other personnel who worked for the Netherlands in the past as quickly as possible.

No jurisdiction

But the judge does not agree with that. He points out that the Netherlands has no jurisdiction in Afghanistan and that evacuation is still difficult. “The Dutch state has great freedom of policy and assessment, because this kind of help and assistance must be offered in unsafe situations on site.”

The families filed two lawsuits. One in the administrative court, who served the summons, and a summary in the civil court, which will serve in January.