April 2nd, 2015 will be remembered as a sad day for migrants and for Belgian immigration policies, after 2 individuals committed suicide when the government refused to grant them residency, pointed out CIRE (Coordination and Initiatives for Refugees and Aliens) on Friday. The multi-party organisation condemns the human cost of Belgian migratory policies.
“These acts of despair took place in 2 highly symbolic places,” highlighted CIRE. According to the Brussels prosecutor, a 25-year-old Guinean asylum seeker set himself on fire in the Fedasil restrooms (Federal agency for asylum seekers) on Thursday evening. The other asylum seeker, from Morocco, was found dead at the former Merksplas centre on Thursday morning, after committing suicide, reports the Aliens Office.
“The cry for help of these 2 men, one who came from a country known for being dangerous, Guinea, and the other living in Belgium for the past 16 years, echoes the despair of tens of thousands of illegal migrants in our country. People who left harsh realities for a better life, and who end up stuck in a very precarious situation, or unbearably, forced to return where they came from,” highlights CIRE.
The NGO is asking politicians, including Theo Francken, Secretary of State for Asylum, Migration and Administrative Simplification, to “take stock of how their decisions lead to a distress they are very much responsible for.”
(Source: Belga)
