Belgium temporarily suspends processing of Syrian asylum applications
Belgium's Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS) will temporarily stop processing Syrian asylum applications, reported newspaper De Standaard. Applications from Syrians will be put “on hold” until there is more clarity on the situation in the country. In the meantime, people are still entitled to reception.
In Syria, rebels took the capital Damascus on Sunday after more than 13 years of civil war. President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia. It’s unclear how the balance of power will now develop in the country.
According to CGRS’s spokesman Olivier Brasseur, the situation in Syria is currently too unclear to assess a risk of possible return. “We have decided today to temporarily not process Syrian asylum applications, except from people who have a status in another EU member state, because then there is no fear with regard to the country of origin,” he explained.
Applications are thus put “on hold” until there is more clarity on the situation in the country. “In the meantime, people are still entitled to reception,” stressed Brasseur. Around 35,000 Syrians have received protection in Belgium over the past decade. This year too, Syrians are the first nationality in terms of asylum applications – with 4,725 applications until the end of October.
Outgoing state secretary for asylum and migration Nicole de Moor said she had “instructed her services to monitor the situation closely”. “Refugee status is not necessarily forever,” she declared. “If the situation in Syria improves sustainably, I will ask the CGRS to review the refugee status of Syrians who arrived here in the last five years. But it is too early for that at the moment.”
“Of course, we are not going to revoke the residence of people who have been integrated here on a sustainable basis and, for example, work here, speak good Dutch and have school-age children,” added De Moor. “We can also help people who want to return now. Our country has well-developed guidance towards voluntary return.”
Belgian state secretary for asylum and migration Nicole de Moor © BELGA PHOTO DIRK WAEM
Related news
