Hibapress
Belgium has once again been singled out by the Council of Europe, which criticises it for its “systematic failure” to honour its commitments to welcoming asylum seekers.
In a decision published on Friday, widely relayed by the Belgian media, the delegates of the ministers of the Council of Europe asked Belgium to increase, “as quickly as possible and significantly” the capacity of its reception network for asylum seekers, considering that the current measures are “insufficient”.
Given the “insufficiency” of these measures in light of the ongoing crisis, its humanitarian nature and its impact on the European Court of Human Rights and the Brussels courts, the delegates call on the authorities to use “all the means at their disposal and to adopt a sufficient budget as well as a timetable specifying the next steps with a view to achieving compliance with their commitment”.
The Belgian authorities are thus requested “to increase, as quickly as possible and in a significant and sustainable manner, the capacity of their reception network to resolve the current crisis, eradicate at source the problem of non-enforcement of court decisions and be able to cope, in the future, with the flow of applicants, inherent in any asylum system”, it continues.
In this regard, the delegates encourage the Belgian authorities “to continue and strengthen their cooperation with the European Union Agency for Asylum, to provide for other measures, such as emergency reception and/or the granting of financial aid, and to monitor the execution of all judicial decisions on reception”.
For the Federal Migration Centre (Myria) and the Federal Institute for Human Rights (IFDH), the Council of Europe’s analysis is not a surprise.
“Between mid-June 2023 and mid-June 2024, the number of people on the waiting list for a reception place almost doubled, from 2,114 to 4,097 people,” note the two organizations, which shared their findings with the Council of Europe in July.
The capacity of the reception network has certainly increased from 29,000 places in 2021 to 35,385 places in May 2024, but only 1,765 additional places have been created between July 2023 and June 2024.
