Brussels ( Brussels Morning ) – Belgium’s asylum applications decline despite EU rise. State Secretary cites Afghan child asylum drop, while experts highlight reception challenges.
There was a decrease in the number of asylum applications in Belgium in 2023, despite an increase in the number of asylum applications in the EU overall. According to data issued by the EU Commission’s statistical department on 25 March, 1.049 million people applied for asylum for the first time across all 27 EU nations (a 20% boost from 2022) but only 29,260 of them were in Belgium (8.8% decline from 32,100 in 2022).
State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor has argued that the decrease in Belgium was due to a substantial decrease in the number of asylum applicants by unaccompanied children from Afghanistan. However, Pascal Debruyne from the Odisee University of Applied Sciences has claimed that it was more due to the “poor and unsteady reception situation” in Belgium. The desperate situations in which many people pursuing asylum in Belgium have discovered themselves in recent years are well documented. “I know people who have been resting on the streets for more than six months,” stated Amin Majidi Emaduddin, an Afghan refugee who has been staying in Belgium for nine years.
Magali Pratte from the NGO Bruss’Help emphasised one of the damaging effects that the reception problem and Belgium’s ongoing failure to fulfil its human rights obligations under international law to deliver housing and other essential goods and services to asylum seekers was having on people pursuing asylum in the country. “People are staying on the road for longer, so they are more harmed and are presenting more severe mental health problems,” she said.
In past, Belgium’s decision to temporarily discontinue the provision of shelter to asylum-seeking single men has been met with objection and legal challenges. The minister-president of Wallonia, Elio Di Rupo suggested relaxing regulations on residence permits to permit undocumented people and international protection applicants with talents to fill the shortage in the job market.
Belgium declared on 29 August 2023 a temporary break of shelter to single male asylum seekers as ordered by Belgian State Secretary for Asylum and Migration, Nicole de Moor amid the constant reception crisis. “I do not want to crawl behind the facts, and I am therefore making the judgment now to reserve all available places for households with children. The high number of asylum petitioners who came to our country in the past two years persists in weighing on the reception network. We persist in opening new centres, but everyone has noticed in the past year how difficult it is to construct shelters. I want to keep children from ending up on the street”, de Moor stated. From a legal standpoint, Belgium should supply shelter and protection to asylum seekers and refugees on its part under national, EU and international law.
The move has flared legal and moral criticism. The Brussels government, who had to adjust asylum seekers in a hotel after they had pursued refuge in squats and tents along the canals last year, fears that a similar concern might arise again. Alain Maron, Minister of the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region, assured that the decision “would lead to an expansion in homelessness within Brussels” and suggested the federal government “fulfil its national and international responsibilities”.
