Thousands of volunteers for the Red Cross in the Netherlands say they are not prepared to help refugees, according to a confidential report in the hands of broadcaster Nos.

The organisation carried out a survey of 1,300 of its 30,000 volunteers and found around one in five was unwilling to work with asylum seekers. The reasons given ranged from ‘I’d rather see our borders closed’ to ‘there is nothing for them here’, while others said most refugees are after an easy life.

The Red Cross is holding a meeting with officials from all 25 districts on December 15 in an effort to determine the full extent of the problem. The organisation is also developing a campaign based on the theme ‘Red Cross volunteers help everyone’ to try to change people’s minds.

‘It has to be clear that people who object to helping on principle can no longer be volunteers for the Red Cross, despite their work up to now,’ Nos quotes the document as saying.