Delegate general for children's rights Bernard De Vos has denounced the reception conditions in Belgium for families and children fleeing the conflict in Ukraine.
“The reception is catastrophic,” De Vos said at the presentation of his annual report to the parliament of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Le Vif reports.
“Refugees are forced to wait in the cold, with blankets, and without toilets until yesterday. I had the impression of being in a situation similar to what I saw last week at the Ukrainian border– this is not reasonable.”
De Vos says the chaotic management of the migratory flow puts refugees at great risk of exploitation.
Concern for refugees most vulnerable to exploitation
“Each exodus constitutes a danger for the weakest, in particular women and children. The risk of exploitation and abuse of children is enormous,” he warned, pointing to the pressure for adoptions and also the “sale of children for organs.”
“These are things that exist today,” he told MEPs, and that he was “terribly worried” about the conditions of schooling for Ukrainian children here.
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“I have a lot of people from this sector who come to me and say: we are completely overwhelmed, we have classes of 20 when we should have classes of eight or ten,” the general delegate said.
“However, if we want to reduce the risk of psychological trauma among these refugee children and adolescents, we must do everything possible to get them back into social life as quickly as possible, including school.”
