In a letter of which AFP obtained a copy on Tuesday, the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Sammy Mahdi, called on local elected officials on Monday to anticipate “an exceptional emergency situation”, and to carry out before Wednesday noon a first inventory of places available in their city.
According to him “more than 100” municipalities (out of 581 in total in the country) had already agreed to participate in the operation at midday, a sign of “enormous solidarity”.
It is for them, specifies the letter, to find places of temporary accommodation “both in the public and private sectors; (…) accommodation with private individuals, in a hotel, a bed and breakfast, a gym etc.
The public reception network for asylum seekers in Belgium is currently saturated. In order not to encumber it even more, the country intends to plead with its EU partners for the adoption of a temporary protection directive facilitating the administrative procedures for exiles in an exceptional situation.
It is in this context that the call for citizen solidarity was launched, relayed on social networks with the hashtag #plekvrij (“place available” in Dutch).
Thanks to this so-called “temporary protection” mechanism, which will be on the menu of an EU meeting on Thursday, Ukrainians would automatically benefit from a residence status, “with immediate access to the world of work”, explained Sammy Mahdi during a press conference.
In Belgium, all they have to do is register in a dedicated reception center – a converted former hospital in Brussels – where they can be accommodated for one or two nights before being distributed among the municipalities depending on the places available.
“The municipalities, in collaboration with the National Crisis Center, are responsible for coordinating accommodation on the ground,” insisted Mr. Mahdi.
A Brussels elected official contacted by AFP explained that he had already relayed the government’s request to the social housing operators in his municipality on Tuesday.
Several municipalities have also invited citizens wishing to provide assistance to inform them of the possibilities of transitional housing. This is notably the case of Mouscron, Gembloux, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Woluwe-Saint-Pierre or Liège.
Residents can communicate via email, telephone, or through a specific platform, the type of accommodation offered, the number of beds at home or in the accommodation offered, the equipment available, the languages spoken in the household and full contact details.
In addition, the municipalities are organizing collections of food, medicine and equipment, in response to the request for aid issued by the Embassy of Ukraine in Belgium.
In Liège, a call center will make it possible from Wednesday to identify and coordinate the various aid offers and the needs of the first refugees who have already arrived in the city, via the number 04/221.81.11.
Proposals to welcome refugees made by the citizens of Gembloux can be communicated to the Emergency Planning Coordinator via the number 081/62.55.51 or by email to benoit.malisoux@gembloux.be.
In Mouscron, accommodation options can be sent to the office of the mayor, Brigitte Aubert, by telephone on 056/86.02.36 or by email via the address bourgmestre.aubert@mouscron.be.
The municipality of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode invites you to contact the prevention service on 02/217.50.62 or 0494/57.78.76 to offer emergency accommodation.
Finally, Woluwe-Saint-Pierre has made available an aid proposal form at the address www.woluwe1150.be/ukraine, while Woluwe-Saint-Lambert has created a platform specifically dedicated to the free provision of housing, available on the municipality’s website www.woluwe1200.be.
Members of the Federation of Performing Arts Employers (FEAS) have also declared that they stand ready to welcome Ukrainian artists to their venues in order to “preserve the free expression of culture and defend the exercise of fundamental cultural rights. “.
More than 677,000 Ukrainian refugees fleeing the invasion of their country by Russia have flocked to border countries since Thursday, according to the latest UN census released Tuesday evening.
Among them nearly 52,000 did not stop in Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia or Romania and continued on their way to other European countries, according to the same source.
In Belgium on February 28 alone, around 90 Ukrainians presented themselves at the offices of the immigration services in Brussels to request international protection, compared to 118 for the whole of 2021, according to figures revealed on Tuesday by Sammy Mahdi.
