Belgium halved its immigration detention capacity (from 609 to 315 spaces) in the weeks after the outbreak of the pandemic. By 19 March, the total number of detainees in the country’s six detention centres had dropped to 304. However, because reception centres for asylum seekers are no longer accepting new arrivals and detainees are being released without access to support, many released migrants and asylum seekers reportedly have limited options other than to live on the streets. A Belgian NGO has qualified this measure as “unacceptable” and urged the state to use “vacant holiday parks, hotels and sports halls to provide shelter for anyone who is homeless.” They also requested that the government provide undocumented migrants with temporary stay for three months based on their non-reparability and / or other humanitarian reasons.” Family and NGO visits to detention facilities were also suspended, and on 17 March 2020, the Belgian Immigration Office temporarily halted the registration of new asylum seekers.
- Ruben Bruynooghe (Jesuit Refugee Service – Belgium), Email correspondence with Mario Guido (Global Detention Project), 20 March 2020; B. Struys,“Coronavirus zet vreemdelingenzaken onder druk: 300 mensen zonder papieren vrigelaten,” De Morgen, 19 March 2020, https://bit.ly/2U7S8zC
- Global Detention Project, “Immigration Detention in Belgium,” https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/countries/europe/belgium
- Orbit, “Overheid zet mensen zonder papieren uit gesloten centra op straat,” 19 March 2020, https://www.orbitvzw.be/overheid-zet-mensen-zonder-papieren-uit-gesloten-centra-op-straat-hoezo-blijfinuwkot/
- Fedasil, “Le centre d’arrivée ferme ses portes,” 17 March 2020, https://bit.ly/2wnqcyI
