The reception structures are saturated, forcing many migrants to spend the night in the street.
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Fourteen Member States of the European Union have recently alerted the European Asylum Agency (AUEA) for the arrival of large flows of migrants, mostly from Serbia. They hoped that, despite the focus on the energy crisis, the last summit of heads of state and government, on October 20 and 21, would be an opportunity to also mention what a Belgian diplomat describes as ” A crisis of a new type “because, unlike the previous ones (during the war in Syria or the conflict in Ukraine), it does not seem to be linked to any particular event, except perhaps the consequences of the return to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Over the first seven months of 2022, AUEA identified some 480,000 asylum applications, an increase of 60 % in one year.
The 27 leaders did not have time or the will to deepen this issue. And did not have a wind of what was happening a few kilometers from the European Council where they were gathered. However, the Belgian capital has faced, for weeks, a humanitarian crisis which is undoubtedly the most serious that it has known.
Fedasil, the federal organization that manages requests, has a network of 32,000 places, all occupied now. Since mid-October, its members have been trying, by paying hotel nights (a practice that goes against its principles and risks, according to its managers, to attract new arrivals) and by calling to rescue associations and “Citizens hosts”, to deal with the most in a hurry. This is no longer enough: Brussels discovered, and it is a first, that unaccompanied adolescents, women and families with young children were now forced to sleep on the street. As at least a thousand men, according to the estimates of associations working on the front line.
“The members of Fedasil are just as expected as we”, comments Amélie Deprez, regional coordinator for doctors of the world, the organization which participates in the “humanitarian hub” in Brussels with the Red Cross, the Samu Social, the Citizen platform, Médecins sans frontières and other citizen groups. Fedasil members are required to accommodate asylum seekers awaiting examination of their request, but they can no longer due to the engorgement of the system. The general police station for refugees and stateless (CGRA), responsible for examining each request, is also overwhelmed.
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