Fedasil is urgently seeking additional reception places for asylum seekers and wants to house them on canal boats in Belgian ports, as stated in a letter sent by State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor to port authorities.
"[Belgium] is faced with an acute shortage of reception places," begins the letter that de Moor sent to the ports of Antwerp and Bruges-Zeebrugge (Port of Antwerp-Bruges), the port of Ghent (North Sea Port) and the port of Ostend late last week.
De Moor is urgently looking for a suitable location where new refugee pontoon boats can dock, Het Laatste Nieuws reports. Belgium already has a boat for this purpose: The 'Ponton Reno' in Ghent. Since 2016, 224 asylum seekers have been received in the floating centre.
The centre was initially privately operated but Fedasil took over in 2020. "Following the Reno, we would like to explore the possibilities of realising additional capacity via pontoons", it read.
Tweet translation: "I did not think that in Belgium, in the country of human rights, people would be left on the street for months in the cold and without eating." This is one of the many testimonies collected today in front of the small castle. It is shameful, inhuman and illegal.
"We opened 14 reception centres last year, including in former youth shelters or barracks," De Moor said. "But in addition, we are also looking for alternative solutions. I have now invited the ports for consultations." The exploratory talks that have already taken place have not yet yielded anything.
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There are currently 35,000 reception places in Belgium, a number that has never been higher, but there is still more to be done.
