Fearing persecution because of belief 
Migration policy has long worked as the non-psychical border of a state, through which one is allowed access into a process of exclusion or inclusion (Fossum & Olsen, 2021). An asylum seeker has to receive the status of ‘refugee’ to start this process. The1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol describe the grounds on which one can receive protection, such as through the ‘well-founded fear of being persecuted because of his or her religion’. In the Netherlands, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) decides on the refugee status of asylum seekers. The Netherlands itself has an historically dominant Protestant conception of religion and Christian values and heritage are part of the supposedly neutral and secular state and society (Van der Burg and De Been, 2020). This Christian imprint is also present in the Dutch asylum policy, specifically in the part regarding asylum applications that are based on the freedom of religion and belief.

The need to study bias and religion in asylum policies
IND officials work with official documents that guide their decision on an asylum application. One of such documents is the Work Instruction (WI) 2022/3 for converts and apostates. This is meant to support cases where conversion or apostasy is a motive for the asylum application. The decision whether to grant asylum or not is made on the basis of the believability of the asylum seeker’s story: the ‘credibility assessment’. It is important to study the execution of such an assessment and its possible flaws. This is not only important because it has to do with securing basic human rights. Eghdamian (2019) argued for a meaningful understanding of the religious dimensions of immigration and asylum. She states that policymakers and scholars should reflect on definitions related to religion to prevent misunderstandings and address underlying risks of bias related to religion, belief and non-belief in existing policies. Moreover, addressing these risks of bias related to religion, belief and non-belief in existing policies could contribute to the distinct relevance of religious studies in this century. 

Acknowledging the existence of bias is not enough 
The Work Instruction itself does pay attention to the possibility of bias, through sentences such as ‘prevent as much as possible (unconscious) reasoning from a personal, often 

Western, frame of reference’ (pg. 16 of the WI). It initially appears that the IND has an open-minded approach to the credibility assessment with their focus on the ‘individual and authentic’ story of an asylum seeker, but the categories and labels on which the credibility assessment is built are limited. If one starts by categorizing (un)belief in an unclear and biased manner, how can the assessment that is based on this be impartial? 

The IND acknowledges the possibility of bias and reasoning from a ‘Western frame of reference’ but in practice there is a Western Protestant frame of reference laced through the description of the assessment. This becomes visible through, for instance, putting the emphasis on religion as a faith, an ‘inward orientation’ and an individual matter and putting much less emphasis on belonging and rituals which is a very Protestant approach. Moreover, there is the general use of political and Christian terms, an essentialist perspective on religion, limited categories for conversion, apostasy and a very Western perspective on atheism. The IND defines atheism as ‘the denial of the existence of all gods or supreme beings’ and uses it as a starting point for further defining categories such as agnosticism. ‘For agnostics and [asylum seekers] who do not fall within the definition of atheism, but who do not believe in a god, but do not fall within the definition of atheism used by the department, the assessment framework for apostates applies’ (pg. 2 of the WI). Using atheism as a synonym for non-religion is often a sign of Western- and Protestant-centrism (Lee, 2015). Lastly, apostasy is seen as the ‘exception’ of conversion, a ‘phase’ in conversion or positioned in opposition to a conversion. The IND tries to fit the beliefs of an asylum seeker in either the category of conversion or the category apostasy whilst these are just two possible trajectories within an individual’s journey in, out and through the religious field (Streib, 2014). 

The space for bias in the WI is also influenced by other issues. With the pressure of the rising numbers of asylum applications, the tensions surrounding migrants and the pressure of the backlogs at the IND, the credibility assessment is at risk of being instrumentalized negatively, contributing to the already existing ‘culture of disbelief’. It is ‘easier’, after all, to reject a more subjective asylum application where the sincerity of someone’s belief is questioned. With so much responsibility put on an assessor to make this complex decision and this much space for bias, the space for mistakes is great as well. And the measures the IND could take (such as consulting a conversion coordinator and third parties) to ensure more informed and objective asylum decisions are not applied enough or remain unclear.

Who cares?
Unfortunately, specific statistics are missing on how many asylum applications there are with a motivation related to conversion or apostasy. Still, it is clear that apostasy and atheism are only recently distinctively included in the Work Instructions. There is also clearly less attention for apostasy, both in official documents like the WI but in scholarly research as well. It seems that there is general insecurity on how to deal with assessing ‘non-believers’, regardless of most Dutch people identifying as ‘non-religious’. Even so, the numbers of apostates are growing globally. Another quote from page 2 of the WI talks about apostasy: ‘Apostasy takes place when there is turned away from the faith with which one grew up, previously adhered to and to which one should be adhering in the eyes of the social circle or the government’. But this quote does not do justice to a reality where apostasy can also be attributed to members of the LGBT community when a sexual orientation is not allowed and seen as the direct equivalent of being an apostate, even when the individual in question still adheres to that faith. 

Various organizations and political parties in the Netherlands are advocating for the asylum seekers that are subject to the credibility assessment. It stands out that these are mostly Christian organizations and political parties that focus on the asylum seekers that are converted to Christianity. These organizations and political parties (working together with some humanist organizations) make public statements and try to bring about change in the government and the IND. Especially Christian (Protestant) organizations and political parties put in the (visible) effort to support their ‘fellow Christians’. In such cases, apostasy is included only indirectly (as there are involved in the WI as well). It seems that in that case religious similarity is most important, perhaps even more than ethnicity. That might even be the case for non-religious citizens that value the supposed ‘Christian-Protestant Dutch heritage’. Nevertheless, the IND has been very careful with accepting any external advice, opinions and knowledge and is keen on protecting their autonomy in making decisions on asylum.

In conclusion, the freedom of thought, conscience and religion is a right for every individual. This right should be secured on the base of a well-considered assessment by the IND where there is actively thought about bias and how this could impact the decisions on asylum that have an enormous impact on a person’s life.

References

Eghdamian, K. (2019). Between Solidarity and Exclusion: Religious Dimensions of Immigration and Asylum in Europe. In E. K. Wilson & B. Schewel (Eds.), Religion and European Society: A Primer (pp. 183–193). John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119162766.ch12 

Fossum, J. E., & Olsen, E. D. (2021). Cosmopolitanism: Moral universalism and the politics of migration. In R. Zapata-Barrero, D. Jacobs, & R. Kastoryano (Eds.), Contested concepts in migration studies (pp. 61–77). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003119333

IND. (2022a, February 15). WI 2022/3 Bekering en afvalligheid. Immigratie- En Naturalisatiedienst. https://puc.overheid.nl/ind/doc/PUC_1284774_1/1/ 

Streib, H. (2014). Deconversion. In L. R. Rambo & C. E. Farhadian (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion (pp. 271–296). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195338522.013.012

Van Der Burg, W., & De Been, W. (2020). Social change and the accommodation of religious minorities in the Netherlands. Journal of Law, Religion and State, 8(1), 1–33. https://doi.org/10.1163/22124810-2019004