Content by tag : Asylum seekers
Belgium has put aside an extra €30 million for emergency aid for refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, according to Alexander De Croo, federal minister for development co-operation.
For the second time in a week, the Office for Foreigners in Brussels has had to ask asylum applicants to come back the next day because of the overwhelming demand.
Fedasil, the federal agency for the support of asylum-seekers, is hiring 130 new staff “as quickly as possible” to help cope with the stream of new asylum-seekers, a spokesperson said.
Federal minister for work and consumer affairs Kris Peeters and CD&V party president Wouter Beke have revealed that they have received death threats in recent months.
Starting this week, Belgium will offer extra temporary housing for asylum seekers to handle the growing number of applicants, particularly from the war-torn Middle East.
Belgium last year received a record number of asylum applications citing homosexuality as the main motive, up from 376 applications in 2009 to 1,070 in 2014.
Theo Francken, state secretary for asylum and migration, will table a bill in parliament this week aimed at preventing potential terrorists returning to Belgium from Syria.
The Belgian police will temporarily stop carrying out the repatriation of asylum seekers to West African countries affected by Ebola.
In August, Belgium received 1,580 asylum applications, 6% more than in July (1,490), reports the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS).
