The Council of Europe has once again condemned Belgium's "clear refusal" to comply with a 2022 court ruling and take the necessary steps to resolve the reception crisis.
In a landmark 2022 case, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Belgium had violated international law by failing to provide accommodation and material assistance to Abdoulaye Camara, a Guinean national who arrived in the country that year.
Camara won the case and was provided with accommodation on 2 November. But the court ruling addressed a structural as well as an individual failing: Camara is one of thousands of asylum seekers denied their right to accommodation and assistance upon arrival in Belgium.
On Friday, the Council of Europe (a major human rights organisation separate from the EU) reminded Belgium of its obligation to address these needs.
"The circumstances of the present case were not unusual and revealed a systemic failure on the part of the Belgian authorities to enforce final judicial decisions concerning the reception of applicants for international protection," the Council stated.
'Use all the means at its disposal'
While the Council notes that Belgium has taken steps to address the wider reception crisis (such as creating 3,500 additional reception spaces and accelerating application procedures), these measures are insufficient.
The statement also acknowledges the "difficult situation" in Belgium in light of a "saturated" system since 2021 but says the delay in answering to the 2022 ruling is unacceptable.
"This failure had heavily over-burdened the operation of a national court and that of the Court itself," it added.
Belgium has once again been reminded that it must "use all the means at its disposal" to resolve the reception crisis via cooperation between different levels of authorities, budgeting and timetabling.
Belgium's reception crisis has resulted in thousands of asylum seekers being left out in the cold. Credit: Belga / Laurie Dieffembacq
The reception network must increase in capacity and Belgium is obliged to step up cooperation with the European Union Agency for Asylum and the Secretariat of the European Council.
The Camara-Belgium case was considered an important moment in bringing the country to justice for its breaches of international law and came on the back of thousands more rulings condemning the State for the same failures.
"Despite over 8,000 court orders from Belgian courts and the judgment in the case of Camara v. Belgium by the ECHR and the decision of the Council of State, the Belgian Government continues to fail to uphold its obligations under international, EU and domestic law, to provide adequate accommodation to people seeking asylum in the country," an Amnesty International report published last year stated.
As of August, there were 3,900 people on the waiting list for asylum in Belgium.
