Belgium condemned for misconduct in managing asylum crisis

The Belgian State and the Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (Fedasil) were condemned by the Brussels French-speaking Court of First Instance for their ordinary misconduct in the management of the asylum crisis, Belga reported on Wednesday.

The State justified its failure to fulfil its obligations by the principle of “force majeure”, citing, in particular, a significant influx of refugees, difficulties in opening new reception centres and the war in Ukraine.

However, this argument failed to convince the Court, which ruled that the force majeure argument was not receivable, as the influx was not “an unforeseeable element”.

Several civil society organisations had taken the State to court for “ordinary misconduct” concerning “Belgium’s obligation to welcome asylum seekers”.

The court did, however, recognise the hurdles encountered by the State in handling the crisis. The Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRA) originally had a six-month period within which it was supposed to issue a decision. However, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly delayed the process, while at the same time, the number of migrants rose sharply: in 2022, almost 37,000 asylum applications were registered in Belgium, an increase of 40% compared to 2021.

The court also condemned the State and Fedasil, demanding that they compensate, feed, and house the 80 asylum seekers living in abandoned premises near the headquarters of the Secretary of State’s party (CD&V/EPP) in Brussels since April.

The court found that the temporary measures to make up for the lack of space in the centres were insufficient. It also added that Fedasil and the State could not “delegate” their obligations laid out in the law to “voluntary associations, depending on their possibilities,” or to “humanitarian organisations with limited resources,” Flemish news media VRT reported.

In the first quarter of 2023, the government took measures to tackle the crisis by doubling the number of forced returns and with a new agreement on migration. Among other things, the new agreement called for more than 2,000 additional reception places to be created in addition to the 8,000 already existing, a figure that Prime Minister Alexander De Croo described as “historic”.

These measures were not taken quickly enough, according to the court, which also deemed them insufficient to fulfil Belgium’s international obligations.

In total, more than 1,100 convictions have been handed down against the Federal State for failing to ensure asylum seekers’ reception. Fedasil has been convicted more than 4,500 times for similar offences.

In its latest ruling, the court also explains that “failure to enforce previous convictions undermines the foundations of the rule of law”.

Commenting on the ruling, the spokeswoman for the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Nicole de Moor, said that the judgment confirms what de Moor has been saying “for a long time, i.e. that every asylum seeker who registers has the right to a reception place”.

(Anne-Sophie Gayet, Nina Chabot | EURACTIV.com)