2023-08-30 19:21:00
Sentences fell all day. Since the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor (CD&V) announced that, from this Wednesday, single men who have submitted an application for international protection would no longer have access to the reception network for an indefinite period, surprise gave way to anger. The Secretary of State says she wants to adapt to the growing influx of families and children who come to the registration center every day. It wants to ensure them a place in a Fedasil network which is always saturated as winter approaches.
“Not wanting to be late to events, I am already making the decision,” she justified. Since the beginning of the year, the curve of the number of arrivals in Belgium has closely followed that of 2022, the year during which Belgium experienced “the reception crisis”. The General Commission for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRA) has registered 18,311 applications for international protection since the beginning of the year, compared to 19,098 the previous year at the same time. Last year, however, the peak was reached in October: that month, the CGRS recorded nearly 4,300 requests.
In Brussels, exiled teenagers left on the street sleep in cardboard tents
An insufficient record
This growth in demand at the end of the summer is usual. It is explained by the summer climatic conditions which facilitate departures from the countries of origin. And the Fedasil reception network is unable to keep up with the sustained pace of arrivals. According to figures as of August 29, the network had 34,209 places (occupied at 94.84%). A record for the agency, but still insufficient.
The Secretary of State indicated that this is the first time that such a decision has been taken upstream by Belgium. In the opinion of many observers of migration issues, it is also the first time at European level that a country has taken a similar decision, going against international obligations. This also goes against Belgian law. Belgium already has more than 8000 convictions for lack of reception, and the announcement of Nicole de Moor opens the door to hundreds of new procedures.
Last October, several unaccompanied minors had to sleep on the street, in cardboard tents provided by humanitarian organizations. ©JC Guillaume
Insufficient agreement
In March, the federal government had nevertheless concluded an agreement, one of the axes of which was to strengthen the reception capacity. But the implementation of this plan takes time and the creation of reception centers comes up against the reluctance of local authorities.
For months, men who register their application for a residence permit with the Foreigners Office and wish to be accommodated have been placed on a waiting list. They are then left on the street until a place becomes available in the network (the wait lasts up to three or four months). According to grassroots associations, there are currently around 2,000 asylum seekers on the streets of the capital.
Nicole de Moor: “We are not pursuing an anti-migrant policy!”
Disastrous consequences
On the ground, the associations fear the dramatic consequences of such a decision which will lead, de facto, hundreds of men to the street. Médecins sans frontières evokes an “intolerable” decision. The Human Rights League called it “unlawful and shameful”.
Petit-Chateau ( Photo by Philip Reynaers / Photonews ©PRE
“We were shocked to learn of the decision from the press. There was no consultation with the players in the field, although the impact will be enormous,” says Sébastien Roy, director general of Samusocial. “For several months we have already had to refuse to accept asylum seekers who come to our door, for lack of sufficient places. These men then go to sleep in the street, in metro stations or in train stations, such as Brussels-Midi. And here we hear Nicole de Moor say that our network will accommodate the surplus that Fedasil cannot accommodate, but it is impossible! The reception crisis has been going on for almost two years in Belgium. Despite all the arguments it can put forward, the announced decision confirms the failure of its asylum policy”, asserts the director general, who pleads, with numerous associations, for the opening of places in Brussels hotels.
For new refugees, obtaining the status does not mean “end of hardship or misery”
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