- A new NGO report has highlighted the impacts of Belgium’s “non-reception” policy for asylum applicants in 2025
- The European Court of Human Rights has once again condemned Belgium for failing to meet the basic needs of asylum applicants.
- An NGO is calling for the regularisation of undocumented people in Luxembourg.
- The upper house of the Dutch parliament has adopted a law establishing a “two-tier” asylum system and rejected another that would have significantly tightened asylum rules.
A new NGO report has highlighted the impacts of Belgium’s “non-reception” policy for asylum applicants in 2025. On 23 April, seven organisations, including ECRE member organisations Caritas International, Doctors of the World and Flemish Refugee Action, published the sixth edition of their joint report on reception conditions in the country. It noted that the fundamental rights of asylum applicants, including access to accommodation, food, medical and psychological care and legal assistance, were still not being respected and that at least 2,000 people were still in need of a place at the end of 2025. The report also included a renewed call for the Belgian authorities to guarantee dignified reception, sustainably increase reception capacity and allocate sufficient funding, respect court decisions, maintain pathways to social assistance and implement a distribution plan.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has once again condemned Belgium for failing to meet the basic needs of asylum applicants. On 9 April, the ECtHR ruled that Belgium had violated several provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in relation to the reception conditions of four applicants who arrived in the country in 2022 and who had not been provided with accommodation or material support for several months. It found Belgium to be in breach of ECHR Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), Article 6 (right to a fair hearing) and Article 34 (right of individual application) and ordered it to pay compensation ranging from €5,000 to € 12,000 to the four applicants. The ECtHR ruling is the latest in a long list of over 10,000 court rulings against Belgium for its treatment of people seeking asylum since 2021.
An NGO is calling for the regularisation of undocumented people in Luxembourg. In its response to the publication of two draft laws relating to the implementation of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, the Support Association for Immigrant Workers (ASTI) has urged the government to undertake “an exceptional regularisation of people already present in the country who are staying irregularly”. The NGO has highlighted what it describes as a “a hardening of the management of people residing irregularly in Luxembourg” and has argued that, without regularisation, the reforms that are included in the draft laws would remain “incomplete and profoundly unjust”. It also recalled a previous regularisation that took place in 2013. According to ASTI Director Sérgio Ferreira: “Then, the government allowed an amnesty for employers, saying there would be new sanctions and there needed to be an opportunity to regularise the situation. Today we are in the same situation, but there is no sanction against employers, instead it’s against people”. “In our view, as there will be a strict application of European law, new sanctions, more regular checks, it is the moment to say to these people, you’re already here, you’re active in our society, so here is the chance for regularisation,” he added.
The upper house of the Dutch parliament has adopted a law establishing a “two-tier” asylum system and rejected another that would have significantly tightened asylum rules. On 21 April, the Senate approved the ‘Two Status System Act’ which will introduce a distinction between different categories of beneficiaries of international protection: people facing persecution based on sexual orientation, ethnicity or religion; and people fleeing war or the effects of climate change. The law will also introduce significant changes to family reunification with the second category of beneficiaries having to wait two years before applying while also needing to have a suitable living space for the entire family and demonstrating an adequate revenue. On the same day, the Senate rejected the ‘Asylum Emergency Measures Act’ which had included a Party for Freedom (PVV) amendment that would make being undocumented in the country a criminal offence. The draft law was rejected despite Minister of Justice and Security David van Weel’s efforts to appease Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the Reformed Political Party (SGP) senators by inserting an amendment to ensure that someone who gave food or shelter to an undocumented person would not face prosecution. Commenting on the votes, ECRE member organisation the Dutch Refugee Council wrote on social media: “Mixed feelings and many concerns for refugees. The Senate votes down one asylum law. But the other asylum law was passed (…)”. “The new dual-status system makes family reunification almost impossible for most refugees. Families remain separated for even longer, with all the consequences that entails,” it added.
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