An asylum center in the Brussels municipality of Molenbeek has to close its doors. The location was intended for the reception of Ukrainian refugees, but now that the Belgian COA wants to place other asylum seekers in it, the mayor is determined that the center must close, writes the VRT.
The location was opened just after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in March in the presence of the Belgian royal couple. The 250-bed center was to serve as a temporary shelter where refugees would stay for a few days before being housed elsewhere in the country.
It soon became apparent that the reception was not necessary, so Fedasil, the organization responsible for the reception of asylum seekers, decided to make the beds available to asylum seekers of other nationalities. But Mayor Cathérine Moureaux of the Socialist Party (PS) does not agree. As in the Netherlands, there is also a major shortage of reception places for asylum seekers in Belgium.
The spokesperson for Moureaux says that Molenbeek already does enough for refugees. A few months ago, the municipality made a hundred beds available. Another reason for the closure is that the location is in a residential area. “This new asylum center really can’t handle it anymore,” the spokesperson told the VRT.
Dupe of closure
Sammy Mahdi, the State Secretary for Asylum and Migration, regrets the difficult communication with the mayor of Molenbeek, his employees tell the VRT. Fedasil hopes that the closure can still be stopped from above.
Residents of the asylum center say they are the victims of the closure and are stuck in the bureaucratic system, because they are unable to register in the municipality.
Reception in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands, the cabinet and municipalities have been struggling for some time about the reception of asylum seekers. For months there has been a structural shortage of reception places and the application center in Ter Apel has been overcrowded. State Secretary Van der Burg of Justice is trying to persuade municipalities to make more places available to promote promotion, but that is only happening slowly.
Ukrainian refugees come under a different arrangement, which means that they can immediately go to specially designated reception places. In a short time tens of thousands of places made available by municipalities. Even if they are not full, the empty beds will not be allocated to asylum seekers with a different nationality.
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