Belgium tightens its policy of welcoming migrants

An agreement for a reform of the asylum policy has been reached in Belgium while 2400 asylum seekers currently do not have accommodation, which is against the law.

AFP/Laurie Dieffembacq

Text by: RFI Follow

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An agreement for a reform of the asylum policy was reached on Thursday March 9 in Belgium while 2,400 asylum seekers currently do not have accommodation, which is against the law.

Some 34,000 places are available, but they are far from enough because the government estimates that the kingdom faces "

disproportionate migratory pressure

".

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With our correspondent in Brussels,

Pierre Benazet

It took six days and one night of negotiations for the coalition in power in Belgium to reach this agreement.

It is finally quite fast, because the question has actually poisoned relations between the seven parties of the federal government for 18 months. 

In the agreement of this Thursday, March 9, there are on the one hand the measures which satisfy the parties of the left.

First, the ban on placing minors in “closed centres”, that is to say detention centers for migrants.

Then financial aid so that asylum seekers who have been residing in these centers for more than six months can leave them.

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A Red Cross clinic for refugees in Brussels

Cooperate in an "expulsion course"

Finally, new reception places will be created for arriving migrants, for example 700 places in a “container village” on the outskirts of Brussels.

However, no figures have been provided on the overall number of new reception places that will have to be created.

For their part, the right-wing parties have been able to beef up the policy of returning to the country of origin.

With, for any person whose asylum application has been rejected, the obligation to cooperate in a “deportation process”.

It aims to reduce the time before leaving Belgian territory to thirty days, compared to four months today.

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  • Belgium

  • Immigration

  • International Migrations