2023-09-12 17:03:11
September 12, 2023 Today at 7:01 p.m.
The auditor of the Council of State considered that it was appropriate to suspend the decision taken by the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration to temporarily exclude single men from the asylum policy carried out by Fedasil.
Seized by different associations in extreme emergencythe Board of state looked this Tuesday afternoon at the decision taken a few days ago by the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Nicole de Moor (CD&V) to reserve reception places for asylum seekers for families with children and women, excluding temporarily men asylum seekers who would appear alone. From the outset, this announcement led to an outcry.
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A series of associations (including the Order of French-speaking and German-speaking Bars, the Human Rights League and the Association for Foreigners’ Rights) appealed to the Council of State in extreme urgency, pleading the suspension of the decision taken by Nicole de Moor.
Saturated reception network
“If we take a snapshot of the current situation of the reception network, the occupancy rate is 96.27%“, pleaded Sophie Matray (Matray, Matray & Hallet) on behalf of the Belgian State. According to the lawyer, at the end of August, he remained in Belgium 149 reception placesincluding 109 places reserved for unaccompanied minors.
“To say that the Secretary of State’s decision is to exclude single men is inaccurate.”
Sophie Matray
Belgian State Lawyer
“It is on the basis of this observation that the Secretary of State instructed Fedasil to keep reception places for vulnerable people,” explained the lawyer, before specifying that the single men were redirected to other partnerslike the Brussels-Capital Region.
“To say that the decision of the Secretary of State is to exclude single men is inaccurate,” argued the State’s lawyer, before concluding that Nicole de Moor “considered she was doing everything in her power to deal with the situation.
“I invite you not to get used to the abject becoming the ordinary.”
Michel Kaiser
Association lawyer
“The contested act is the formalization of a irregular practice which endangers a precarious population”, for his part pleaded Michel Kaiser (Altea) which defends the eight associations alongside Pierre Robert (Kompaso). For associations, this decision by Secretary of State CD&V risks push dozens, even hundreds of people into the street, an unacceptable situation under asylum law. “I invite you not to get used to the abject becoming the ordinary,” Michel Kaiser further pleaded.
Providing his opinion, the auditor of the Council of State, recalling that the saturation of reception networks did not constitute a reason not to offer accommodation to single men, recommended suspending the decision taken by Nicole de Moor.
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