The Belgian authorities have again been criticised for their failures in terms of respecting human rights, specifically concerning the handling of the reception crisis that has been dragging on for 1.5 years now, but also for prison overcrowding and the structural discrimination against foreign nationals in the labour market.
An Amnesty International report is highly critical of Belgium's inability (and/or unwillingness) to provide asylum seekers with the shelter and guidance they are legally entitled to, as well as its inaction to solve this crisis, which already started in October 2021.
"The Belgian authorities continue to show themselves cruelly unworthy of the values they claim to uphold by leaving hundreds of asylum-seekers — including children — homeless and destitute, in total contradiction of their obligations regarding the right to asylum," said Philippe Hensmans, Director of Amnesty International's French-speaking Belgian section.
From people sleeping on a long line of mattresses in front of the reception centre in Brussels to minors and families with children left sleeping rough in the freezing cold, the report refers to a series of human rights abuses that have occurred in the country.
While Belgium's refugee agency and the State have faced thousands of convictions for failing to fulfil their responsibilities, even this level of legal action has not spurred any real changes. It is "high time that Belgium proved that respect for human rights is not an empty promise," said Hensmans.
Additionally, Amnesty also denounced the overcrowding in "dilapidated" prisons where detention conditions are described as "inhumane," the fact that the authorities sell weapons that are "likely to be used to commit serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law," and the "direct and persistent" structural discrimination against people of foreign origin – in the labour and housing market, but also by the police.
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