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JRS Belgium -
Political Developments
In
2008, Belgium experienced much political instability:
while general elections took place in June 2007, a
government was not installed until March 2008. Tensions
amongst the various parties of the governmental
coalition were omnipresent throughout the year, having a
negative impact on immigration policy.
In a coalition agreement, the government stated that a
circular letter should be drawn up defining criteria
allowing undocumented migrants, already well integrated
into Belgian society, to be legalised. Despite the
promises, the government did not come to an agreement on
the issue in 2008, leading to various protests across
the country. Two major demonstrations took place in
Brussels and Antwerp in favour of undocumented people,
with JRS Belgium present at both. Several hunger strikes
by groups of undocumented people, some of which lasted
more than two months, also took place throughout the
year - with some of these hunger strikers getting a
resident permit of three to nine months. The actions of
a number of undocumented people gathered much media
attention during the summer months, after they mounted
several construction cranes around Brussels.
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Blamed for inactivity in her field, the Minister for
Asylum and Migration Policy, Ms Annemie Turtelboom,
attempted to make some progress on other issues, namely,
the detention of families with children. Initially, she
stated that this practice did not impinge on rights of
the child, but following pressure from civil society
organisations, she decided to implement alternatives.
These organisations had reminded her of a study on
alternatives to the detention of families with children
made upon the request of the Minister of Home Affairs in
February 2007 and which stated that detention can be
very harmful for children. As of October 2008, families
with children staying irregularly on the territory were
no longer detained. Instead, they were brought to open
housing, accompanied by a “coach”, with a view of
returning to their country of origin.
This “coach” idea is based on models already used in
Sweden and Australia, but with some differences. In
Belgium the coach is only appointed once all other
procedures have been exhausted, while in Australia, each
family gets a coach from the beginning of the procedure.
Moreover, in Belgium the coach is not an independent
person, since he is a civil servant of the Alien’s
Board, and his only task is to convince families to
accept the return to their home country. These elements
are seen as an obstacle for the families, in view of
building a relationship of trust with the coach.
NGOs, while commending the Minister’s search for such
alternatives, feared that a badly prepared pilot project
would not be successful, and that failure would be used
as an argument to detain families with children again.
They expressed their discontent that the measure was not
applicable to all families, in that, families with
children applying for asylum at the border, mainly
Brussels airport, were still being detained.
JRS Activities
Detention
The core of JRS Belgium activities was the
accompaniment and services offered to foreigners – asylum
seekers and irregular migrants – detained in administrative
detention centres. In 2008, JRS Belgium experienced an increase
in the number of detention centre visitors, whether employed
workers or volunteers. This made JRS Belgium the only Belgian
organisation visiting all five detention centres on a weekly
basis, meaning the expertise of JRS-Belgium in this domain also
increased.
Advocacy and awareness-raising
Following
policy changes concerning the detention of children in 2008, JRS
Belgium joined several other NGOs and official children’s rights
bodies in a follow-up appraisal on the implementation of the new
alternatives to the detention of families with children. They
evaluated the pilot project and proposed improvements to the
Minister and her administration.
In Belgium, and according to the Dublin II Convention, large
numbers of Chechen and Afghan/Iraqi detainees were being sent
back to Poland and Greece respectively. Usually, these asylum
seekers had already had a bad experience in these EU Member
States, that is, a lack of reception facilities, few chances to
be recognized as a refugee, feelings of insecurity. Through
detention visits and advocacy work, JRS Belgium paid special
attention to this group, sending accurate information to their
lawyers, and raising the issue with the government and policy
makers.
Publications
On 19
November 2008, a report on the legal aid in the detention
centres was published by JRS-Belgium and other NGOs involved in
visiting detainees. The report stressed that all detainees must
have access to high quality legal aid and counselling, which is
not always the case. The report made 50 recommendations to
centre staff, the Aliens Board, the Bars and lawyers, the
federal government and the legislators on how to improve the
access to legal aid. The most important recommendations were:
detainees must be provided with clear and rapid information
about their individual case; the exchange of information between
the lawyers and the centre must be improved; and more training
and support should be available for lawyers defending the rights
of foreigners in detention centres. The report is available in
French and in Dutch, and can be found on the website
www.jrsbelgium.org.
In 2008 JRS-Belgium continued to raise awareness of its work
through workshops and information sessions (mainly in Jesuit
schools).
For World Refugee Day 2008, JRS detention visitors gave
testimonies in Church vigils organised close to detention
centres in Bruges and Merksplas.
During the Taizé European Meeting in Brussels at the end of
2008, JRS-Belgium together with members of a parish who welcomed
undocumented migrants in the church organised a workshop on the
theme “I was a foreigner, and you invited me in”.
Contact Details
Fr Christophe Renders SJ, Country Director
rue Maurice Liétart 31/9 - B-1150 Bruxelles
Tel: +32-2 738 0818 - Fax: +32-2 738 0816
belgium(a)jrs.net
To send an email, just replace the (a) with @.
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