Belgium: reform in asylum procedures

The asylum procedure in Belgium is composed of two stages – an application must first be accepted, and then a decision over whether the asylum status is granted.

As long as the application is not accepted, the applicants get material support and stay in an open center (such as Red Cross centers, federal and local centers). Once the application is accepted, the applicants start receiving financial support.

The Minister of Civil Service Affairs, Social Integration and Urban Policy, Christian Dupont, wants to scrap the financial support and thereby help relieve the big cities. The cities have been complaining for years that they’re receiving most of the asylum seekers and need to deal with the financial support. A decision was made in 2003 to help the municipalities but it didn’t help much. Only 20% of the asylum seekers lived in the municipality to which they were sent.

This reform goes with that of Patrick Dewael, Minister of the Interior, according to which a decision on asylum seekers would be received within a year.

Source: Standaard (Dutch)

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