The apology issued Saturday by Minister of Long-Term Care Mirjam Sterk (CDA) to the victims of abuse in closed youth care institutions is a sign that the situation is being taken seriously, the mental health sector representatives say. However, there is also a sentiment that much more needs to be done.

The issue centers around the lack of adequate compensation for the victims of physical, mental, and sometimes sexual abuse in Dutch psychiatric closed youth care centers, specifically within the Very Intensive Short-term Observation and Stabilization department (ZIKOS). Victims describe undergoing degrading treatments, being restrained or locked up for long periods of time.

During Saturday’s speech at the Akoesticum in Ede, the minister also pledged to completely discontinue closed youth care in the Netherlands. However, that cannot be done immediately, she said. Jeugdzorg Nederland chairman Ahmed Aboutaleb supported Sterk’s desire, saying he hopes the practice will be stopped in 2 years.

But the apology is not the “end point,” the umbrella organization De Nederlandse GGZ said. The organization added that continuous care and attention would be needed from the government in order for the victims to “receive timely and appropriate help in a safe and humane environment.”

“We are sorry that we were unable to provide a safe place and good care,” Sterk said on Saturday. “You faced a strict and oppressive living environment. Many experienced violence. Physical, mental, and sometimes sexual as well.”

Sterk’s will to continue the practice of closed youth care in the Netherlands was supported by the chairman of Jeugdzorg Nederland, Ahmed Aboutaleb. The chairman stated that he hopes to discontinue the practice in two years.

“I stood there with trembling legs,” Aboutaleb told ANP about being on stage during Sterk’s apology. “Shame is not the right word, because the intention was to do well. But it does not help such an intention if the effect turns out to be so catastrophic for many young people.”

The Dutch Child Center foundation, which advocates for adequate youth care, called the apology a “sham.” It states that victims have no need for a “non-committal regret, while the structural powerlessness and legal insecurity within the youth system persist again and again.”