New measures presented by Asylum and Migration Minister Aneleen Van Bossuyt (N-VA) that restrict access for some asylum seekers to the Belgian reception and protection network are causing concern among advocacy organisations.
"We fear an increase in homelessness," says Thomas Willekens, policy officer at Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen.
The first of the measures, which the federal parliament approved in July, take effect on Monday. They include a provision that asylum seekers who have already been granted protection elsewhere in the EU will no longer be admitted to the Belgian reception network.
Nearly one-third of applicants already applied in other countries
Justifying this provision, Minister Van Bossuyt noted that "asylum is about protection, therefore those who have it elsewhere in Europe should no longer be granted access to our reception system."
"Asylum shopping must stop," she added.
According to the minister, such applications will now be processed more quickly by the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, CGVS, together with the files of asylum seekers whose applications have already been rejected in another EU Member State. For these groups, applications will systematically be considered inadmissible.
Last year, around 15,000 of the nearly 40,000 asylum applications in Belgium came from people who were already receiving protection or had an ongoing application in another European Member State, according to the minister.
The bar must be raised, rather than lowered
Also from Monday, asylum seekers who, after an initial rejection, submit a new application through a minor, without new elements, will not be entitled to reception. This is aimed at ending "the use of children to prolong procedures and reception,"Van Bossuyt explained.
While Willekens says he understands that each Member State is responsible for the asylum application of one person, he notes that this works "only if every country follows the rules."
"People travel on because they are not being given shelter, are being mistreated or remain in poverty," Willekens observes. "Every Member State now says it should not solve other people's problems, but then the situation becomes equally inhumane everywhere."
He feels the bar must be raised everywhere, rather than lowered. He also wonders how the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGVS) will obtain information from other countries and how long it will take to process it.
"In our opinion, this will increase the workload, whereas the minister wants to save money," he argues. "It only concerns 1,750 files out of a total of 35,000.
More restrictions to come...
Advocates are also taking issue with a provision scrapping the award of an allowance to asylum seekers who did not gain shelter in reception centres. This provision, too, is among those taking effect on Monday.
Willekens notes that the allowance "was already an exception." Fedasil only did this, he said, "in cases where the shelter was not adapted to a particular vulnerability. The Council of State advised that this was possible, provided that access to shelter was always guaranteed. Otherwise, you are limiting people's ability to live in dignity."
Refugee organisations see a common thread. The Council of State was critical of all the draft laws, but the government ignored its advice. This is ill-considered policy, they say, arguing that the chances of the amendments being upheld by the Constitutional Court are slim.
Anti-poverty organisation Caritas Belgium shares these concerns and rejects what it calls an incoherent deterrence policy. "European countries, including Belgium, are introducing measures of this kind to discourage asylum seekers," explains Tom Devriendt, policy coordinator at Caritas. "But that's not how it works. An Afghan arriving at the Greek border is not going to turn back simply because the rules are stricter."
Minister Van Bossuyt, who has repeatedly emphasised that she wants to pursue the "strictest asylum and migration policy" ever, has also announced stricter rules on family reunification, set to take effect in mid-August.
