In Belgium, which has a population of approximately 12 million, 19 thousand people applied for asylum this year. About 42 percent of asylum seekers are single men. Nearly 2,000 single male asylum seekers are also on the waiting list for their procedures to be completed.
INSTRUCTIONS TO STOP
Belgian Minister of State for Asylum and Immigration Nicole de Moor announced that she has instructed the Belgian Asylum and Migration Administration (Fedasil) to stop accepting asylum applications from single men. De Moor emphasized that he made this decision to give priority to families with children.
There has been a reaction against this decision from both human rights organizations and the government.
“I DEFINITELY WANT TO PREVENT CHILDREN FROM THE STREETS”
Speaking to public broadcaster VRT, the Belgian minister said, “I don’t want to be behind the times. For this reason, I have already decided to reserve all available places for families with children. “I definitely want to prevent children from falling into the streets,” he said.
Defending that Belgium already hosts a large number of refugees, de Moor said, “This is not really an acceptable situation anymore. This year, 19,000 refugees came to Belgium, and 1,500 refugees came to Portugal, which has a similar population.
Arguing that the high number of asylum seekers in recent years has put a great burden on the reception system, the Belgian minister pointed to the difficulties of opening a new asylum centre.
De Moor did not offer a solution for where single male asylum seekers whose asylum applications were not accepted would go or where they would stay.
According to Belgian authorities, around 2,000 single men are currently on the waiting list for asylum procedures to be completed. Putting them in an asylum center seems impossible under the following circumstances.
Although private aid organizations try to help refugees without a place to stay, this is not enough.
Especially in the capital Brussels, many people, including refugees, sleep on the streets.
THEY WANTED THE PROBLEM TO BE SOLVE QUICKLY
This situation in the center of Brussels also causes security problems. Non-governmental organizations and neighborhood committees in the city applied to the local government and demanded that this problem be resolved immediately.
According to the local Brussels government, the federal government is not fulfilling its legal obligation to accept all asylum seekers with this decision and throws thousands of people onto the streets.
The Brussels administration will meet with representatives of the city’s residents on Friday (September 1st) to address this issue.
The Belgian government has been convicted nearly 8,000 times in the last 2 years for failing to provide accommodation for asylum seekers.
The ministry headed by De Moor refused to pay the fines imposed by the court.
That’s why in February enforcement officers seized the refrigerator, coffee machine and chairs in the office of Minister for Asylum and Immigration de Moor.
“THE DECISION IS ILLEGAL”
Belgian lawyers and human rights organizations are reacting to the decision, stating that the decision to reject the applications of single male asylum seekers is against the law and that these people will go to the streets.
Marie Doutrepont from Progress Lawyers said they would take the matter to court.
Kati Verstrepen, President of the Human Rights Union, emphasized that this situation is against both Belgian and international laws.
It’s not true that single men are less vulnerable, and it’s not possible to exclude an entire group, according to Verstrepen.
The President of the Human Rights Union claimed that these measures also proved that the migration agreements the European Union signed with Tunisia and previously with Turkey did not work.
Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Georges Gilkinet and Minister of State both evaluated Moor’s decision as “extremely problematic and unacceptable” and said that the federal state should fulfill its obligations.
International agreements and European Union laws oblige countries to give people the opportunity to apply for asylum.