AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch junior Justice Minister Mark Harbers resigned on Tuesday over a report on crime by asylum seekers that was widely condemned as misleading.

Harbers announced his resignation during a debate with parliament, saying he took full responsibility for the report.

The report published last week on crimes committed by asylum seekers in the Netherlands in 2018 had broken out minor crimes such as shoplifting and bike theft into separate categories but grouped crimes including rape and murder under “other.” </s> THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A Dutch junior justice minister has quit after his department came under fire for appearing to minimize statistics about criminality among asylum seekers.

The ministry was criticized for categorizing hundreds of cases reporting serious offenses including attempted murder and sexual assaults under the heading “others.”

The revelations last week and accusations of a cover-up led to a swift internal investigation at the justice ministry.

Anti-immigration lawmaker Geert Wilders accused the ministry of “sweeping under the carpet” allegations of serious crimes among the thousands of asylum seekers in the Netherlands.

Junior minister Mark Harbers resigned Tuesday, saying he was taking political responsibility for an error of judgment by his ministry.

Wilders said the resignation was “the only correct conclusion.”

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> The Netherlands' migration minister, Mark Harbers (pictured), resigned on Tuesday following an outcry over a report which appeared to downplay crime statistics in relation to asylum-seekers.

Harbers presented a report to the Dutch parliament that included information on crimes committed by asylum-seekers. Various misdemeanors, such as shoplifting, had their own separate categories but serious crimes such as sexual assault, murder and manslaughter were placed under the category "other."

Read more: Asylum-seekers left in 'inhumane' conditions in German refugee center

During a parliamentary discussion, the politician stated he had offered his resignation. He took "total responsibility" for not correctly informing the chamber but said it was "not deliberate."

Harbers' fall comes amid a mini-crisis for the center-right Prime Minister Mark Rutte as he tries to stave off a surge for euroskeptic and anti-immigration parties who look set to make gains across the continent in European elections on Thursday.

Read more: Not your grandparents' Europe

Rutte tweeted saying though he "respected" Harbers' decision to quit, it was "incredibly regrettable that the cabinet must say goodbye to such a talented and committed liberal."

Every evening, DW sends out a selection of the day's news and features. Sign up here. </s> THE HAGUE, Netherlands - A Dutch junior justice minister has quit after his department came under fire for appearing to minimize statistics about criminality among asylum seekers.

The ministry was criticized for categorizing hundreds of cases reporting serious offences including attempted murder and sexual assaults under the heading “others.”

The revelations last week and accusations of a coverup led to a swift internal investigation at the justice ministry.

Anti-immigration lawmaker Geert Wilders accused the ministry of “sweeping under the carpet” allegations of serious crimes among the thousands of asylum seekers in the Netherlands.

Junior minister Mark Harbers resigned Tuesday, saying he was taking political responsibility for an error of judgment by his ministry. </s> A Dutch junior justice minister has quit after his department came under fire for appearing to minimize statistics about criminality among asylum seekers.

Migration minister Mark Harbers resigned on Tuesday in a bad blow to the government just ahead of European elections.

His departure adds to the struggle faced by centre-right Prime Minister Mark Rutte as he tries to counter a surge in anti-immigration populists who look poised to win big in the elections on Thursday.

Harbers was caught out over a report featuring statistics on crimes perpetrated by asylum-seekers in the Netherlands that he presented to parliament.

In the report, misdemeanours such as shoplifting had their own separate categories but serious crimes such as sexual assault, murder and manslaughter were lumped together under the category 'other' with no disaggregation.

The revelation of that omission by the newspaper De Telegraaf triggered anger among lawmakers, some of whom questioned whether it was a deliberate attempt to skew reception of the report.

Anti-immigration lawmaker Geert Wilders accused the ministry of 'sweeping under the carpet' allegations of serious crimes among the thousands of asylum seekers in the Netherlands.

Wilders said the resignation was 'the only correct conclusion.'

The accusations of a cover-up led to a swift internal investigation at the justice ministry.

Late Tuesday, during a parliamentary debate, Harbers announced he had offered his resignation. He assumed 'total responsibility' for not correctly informing the chamber but said it was 'not deliberate,' Dutch media reported.

Rutte responded by saying he 'respected' Harbers's decision to step down, but declared on Twitter that it 'incredibly regrettable that the cabinet must say goodbye to such a talented and committed liberal'.

Rutte's governing coalition already suffered a shock two months ago when provincial elections made the Forum for Democracy party - an anti-immigration populist party that backs a Netherlands exit from the European Union - the biggest party in the senate.

The Forum for Democracy is course to possibly beat Rutte's Liberals in the European elections on Thursday.

The Netherlands will be the first EU country - along with Brexit Britain - to vote in the polls, which will be held in other European countries over the subsequent three days.

If Forum of Democracy does do well, it would be a bellwether of a populist tsunami that could shake the European Union. </s> The Netherlands’ asylum minister Mark Harbers was forced to resign after he hid the number of ‘refugees’ suspected of serious crimes from a crime report.

Harbers failed to include a category called ‘other’ in the report on crimes committed by asylum seekers, which included 79 sexual offenses, 51 aggravated assaults, and 31 suspicions of murder and manslaughter.

Harbers’ excuse for not reporting the figures was that it would lead to “confusion”.

“Last week’s report showed ‘fake’ asylum seekers who come from so-called safe countries, namely Morocco and Algeria, were responsible for almost half the 4,600 incidents requiring police intervention,” according to DutchNews.nl.

Other European countries have massaged stats on migrant crime or refused to release details altogether.

In 2016, Swedish police were ordered to stop reporting the ethnicity of suspects over fears of being branded “racist”.

The following year, Sweden’s “most experienced police investigator,” Peter Springare went public with claims that migrants were responsible for most of the crime in Sweden.

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Support my sponsor – Turbo Force – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown. </s> Dutch authorities are embroiled in a budding scandal as the Ministry of Justice and police are blaming each other for the concealment of serious crimes committed by migrants in a new report, according to local media.

At the heart of the matter is data released by Dutch State Secretary for Justice and Security Mark Habers, which was purportedly intended to break down various types of offenses committed by 'asylum seekers' in the Netherlands in 2018.

Among a total 4,600 reported crimes is a category labeled "other" where 1,000 miscellaneous illegal acts are lumped together.

Upon further investigation conducted by De Telegraaf, reporters discovered that the worst crimes were hidden under the vague title.

"Last year, for example, 79 sex crimes committed by asylum seekers were registered," De Telegraaf reports. "These included 47 cases of sexual assault in or around an asylum center, five cases of sexual abuse of children, four cases of rape and eight cases of possession of child pornography. Not only do sex crimes fall under 'other,' but 31 murder/manslaughter cases also fall under that heading."

Federal officials are now blaming police for not providing them with detailed information, but law enforcement claims the appropriate government bodies have had comprehensive data for weeks.

Interestingly, police say they are no longer allowed to discuss the issue with the press.

Anti-migration figurehead and prominent MP Geert Wilders has called for Secretary Habers to resign if he is found to have obfuscated the figures.

"Murder, abuse and manslaughter by asylum seekers were concealed by the ministry," Wilders tweeted. "First the Cabinet allows all the scum to enter our country and then serious crimes by asylum seekers are covered up."

This is not the first time the government has been implicated in hiding migrant crime stats, as De Telegraaf reportedly busted the Ministry of Justice and Security claiming in 2017 that such data wasn't tracked at all, when police were indeed keeping such records.

Tommy Robinson was previously imprisoned for his views on globalism and open borders in Europe. Now that he is running for parliament, he's facing even more censorship. </s> Dutch migration minister Mark Harbers resigned, adding to the struggle faced by the centre-right prime minister, who is faced with a surge in anti-immigration populists

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The Hague (AFP)

The Netherlands' minister for migration, Mark Harbers, resigned Tuesday after a parliamentary outcry over elided data on crimes committed by asylum-seekers, in a bad blow to the government just ahead of European elections.

His departure adds to the struggle faced by centre-right Prime Minister Mark Rutte as he tries to counter a surge in anti-immigration populists who look poised to win big in the elections Thursday.

Harbers was caught out over a report featuring statistics on crimes perpetrated by asylum-seekers in the Netherlands that he presented to parliament.

In the report, misdemeanours such as shoplifting had their own separate categories but serious crimes such as sexual assault, murder and manslaughter were lumped together under the category "other" with no disaggregation.

The revelation of that omission by the newspaper De Telegraaf triggered anger among lawmakers, some of whom questioned whether it was a deliberate attempt to skew reception of the report.

Late Tuesday, during a parliamentary debate, Harbers announced he had offered his resignation. He assumed "total responsibility" for not correctly informing the chamber but said it was "not deliberate," Dutch media reported.

Rutte responded by saying he "respected" Harbers's decision to step down, but declared on Twitter that it "incredibly regrettable that the cabinet must say goodbye to such a talented and committed liberal".

Rutte's governing coalition already suffered a shock two months ago when provincial elections made the Forum for Democracy party -- an anti-immigration populist party that backs a Netherlands exit from the European Union -- the biggest party in the senate.

The Forum for Democracy is course to possibly beat Rutte's Liberals in the European elections on Thursday.

The Netherlands will be the first EU country -- along with Brexit Britain -- to vote in the polls, which will be held in other European countries over the subsequent three days.

If Forum of Democracy does do well, it would be a bellwether of a populist tsunami that could shake the European Union.

? 2019 AFP </s> THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The Dutch security and justice minister resigned Thursday amid allegations that he was involved in withholding information from lawmakers, a potentially damaging blow to the administration of Prime Minister Mark Rutte less than two months before a national election. Security and Justice Minister Ard van der Steur quit days after a new book presented evidence of his involvement in drafting responses to Parliament's questions about a deal prosecutors made with a drug trafficker in 2000.

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Dutch Minister of Justice and Security Mark Harbers resigns amid a scandal over a government report which played down crimes committed by asylum seekers in the country, including rapes and murders, which were placed under a category called "other". The omission was first highlighted by Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.