No fewer than 223 individuals lost their refugee status during the last five years, according to figures published by the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, the Sudpresse publications are reporting. Over the same time period, 279 asylum seekers were excluded from the procedure for obtaining refugee status.
During the past year, 41 individuals lost refugee status and 62 were excluded from the procedure for obtaining the latter.
Refugee status may be withdrawn if it turns out that the asylum seeker fraudulently obtained it by supplying false details. Exclusion from the procedure is relevant if the asylum seeker fulfils the prerequisite conditions but he has committed serious acts in his country of origin (crimes, terrorism, etc). These individuals are not necessarily returned at the end of exclusion from the procedure, given that Belgium cannot repatriate them in a country where they risk either being tortured or sentenced to death.
(Source: Belga)
