As dozens of asylum seekers are sleeping rough and the homelessness crisis in Brussels continues, several poverty organisations are calling on politicians to protect vulnerable undocumented migrants in Belgium.
Homelessness organisation Samusocial, refugee organisation CIRÉ, Médecins du Monde, housing organisation l'Ilot and the Brussels Platform Poverty launched an awareness-raising campaign 'Without papers, without rights, without home' for federal MPs and senators on Thursday.
Through an exhibition at the Palais de la Nation, the aim is to immerse federal politicians in the existence and survival of undocumented migrants, Samusocial said in a press release.
The exhibition, from 18 April to 3 May, hopes to get the 150 current Members of Parliament to face the facts by immersing them in the lives and survival of undocumented migrants and the most vulnerable among them. Through four portraits, captured by photographer Cédric Gerbehaye and writer Caroline Lamarche, they aim to persuade MPs and senators to pay more attention to this group of people.
Finding lasting solutions
In the exhibition, the organisations point out problems specific to certain groups of undocumented migrants. "Some of them, who have been in Belgium for several years, become homeless as soon as they lose their housing and legal address. They are removed from the registers and are only entitled to urgent, limited and not very accessible medical assistance."
In particular women, the elderly and the sick pay a high price and find it difficult to survive in Belgium. "Women who are victims of domestic violence, often mothers, risk losing their residence permits as soon as they leave their violent partner," the organisations argued.
Older people, sick people and those losing their self-sufficiency are also in a precarious situation. "Sometimes they die on the streets or in our emergency centres, because without a residence permit they cannot get into a rest and care home in time."
The organisations call for concrete actions. "No action will end homelessness until we find lasting solutions," they stressed.
