Human rights organisations have repeated calls for Belgium to resolve the reception crisis following another reprimand from the Council of Europe.
The Council of Europe (CoE) is a major human rights organisation separate from the EU. Its Committee of Ministers is responsible for ensuring that European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decisions are complied with, and on Friday the CoE again reprimanded Belgium's "clear refusal" to answer to a 2022 ruling obliging it to resolve the reception crisis.
The crisis has left thousands of asylum seekers homeless since 2021. Belgium is violating international law by failing to provide people with accommodation and material assistance upon arrival to the country.
The Federal Institute for Human Rights (IFDH) and federal migration centre Myria have seized the opportunity to again put pressure on the State and urge politicians to tackle the human rights crisis.
Like the CoE, both organisations acknowledge that "some good practices have been put in place, but they rely mainly on the goodwill of local players... The Federal Government has not yet taken sufficient steps to find a solution."
Credit: Belga / Jonas Roosens
Three pressure points
IFDH and Myria pinpoint three main shortcomings which demonstrate a lack of political will in the face of the reception crisis.
Reception capacity is "clearly insufficient", they say, pointing out that 15,000 reception spaces were created within a year at the height of the 2015-16 refugee crisis. This echoes the CoE's statement deeming current reception capacity to be insufficient while acknowledging the creation of 3,500 additional spaces since 2022.
IFDH and Myria have also criticised a "deliberate neglect" of emergency legislation designed for these situations. Under these provisions, additional reception spaces are created and asylum seekers are provided with financial aid when staying with friends or family.
In a similar vein, the organisations call for emergency measures taken in the case of Ukrainian refugees to be applied to asylum applications affected by the reception crisis.
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This would entail "a coordination mechanism" facilitating "appeals for solidarity" and preventing social benefits from being reduced if someone in receipt of social welfare were to accommodate someone seeking asylum in their home.
As of August there were 3,900 individuals on the waiting list for asylum. The majority are single males and many sleep on the streets or in squats. "These very precarious living conditions can also exacerbate traumas suffered in their country of origin or on the road to Europe," the organisations stated.
