The European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) released the latest asylum trends for the first half of 2024. By June 2024, EU countries had received 513.000 applications for international protection. While the figure remained stable compared to the first six months of 2023, some changes occurred at the national level.

Cindy Ngamba, a 25-year-old Cameroonian refugee living in the United Kingdom, won the bronze medal in the boxing discipline at the Paris Olympics. She is the first athlete in any sport to secure a medal while representing the refugee team.

Op 9 juli publiceerden bijna 100 NGO’s, waaronder ECRE en verschillende ECRE-lidorganisaties, een gezamenlijke verklaring waarin ze alle EU-lidstaten oproepen om het recht om asiel aan te vragen te garanderen en hun verplichtingen ten aanzien van het internationale vluchtelingenbeschermingssysteem na te komen.

The Immigration Office disclosed a new website aimed at informing applicants for international protection about the purpose and course of the registration. Each step of the process is explained in 16 languages via texts, audio, and videos. The website was co-funded by the European Union.

Tijdens deze bijeenkomst zullen de ombudsmannen voor kinderen en de kinderwelzijns- en voogdijautoriteiten van de EU-lidstaten en andere landen samenkomen om een open discussie te voeren over de specifieke aspecten van de rechten van niet-begeleide minderjarigen uit derde landen.

The Federal Judicial Police reveals that unaccompanied foreign minors in Belgium and throughout Europe are recruited by criminal organisations and forced to carry out theft or drug trafficking. The Federal Police draws attention to this invisible phenomenon and asks to make it a priority for action.

On 13 June 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union released its judgment in the case C-563/22 involving a stateless Palestinian mother and her child, registered with UNRWA, who left the Gaza strip to seek protection in Bulgaria. In this case, the Court provided guidance on the interpretation of Article 12(1)(a) of Directive 2011/95/EU and of Article 40(1) of Directive 2013/32/EU. 

In case C-646/21, the Court of Justice of the European Union clarified that women, including minors, who share as a common characteristic the fact that they genuinely come to identify with the fundamental value of equality between women and men during their stay in a Member State may be regarded as belonging to ‘a particular social group’, constituting a ‘reason for persecution’ capable of leading to the recognition of refugee status.

The list of safe countries of origin, which is revised once a year, was updated on 12 May 2024 and is now published in Belgium’s Official Journal. At present, the following countries are considered as safe countries of origin: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, India and Moldova. 

In Palestinian cases, several elements prevent the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless persons (CGRS) from taking a decision within the initial six-month period after receiving the application for international protection. The CGRS commits to ensuring that Palestinian cases are processed more quickly and that a decision can be taken within 21 months of the submission of the application for protection.

The Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration announced that applications for international protection from people from safe countries of origin have been processed in 12 working days and those from people originating from countries for which a low rate of protection is granted in 39 days, since 1 February 2024. This aims to free up places in the reception network for those who actually need protection. 

On the proposal of Minister of Foreign Affairs Hadja Lahbib and Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor, the Council of Ministers approved a draft royal decree establishing the list of safe countries of origin, now including Moldova.

On 18 March 2024, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGVS) and the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) co-organized a conference during which participants reiterated the need for greater convergence between Member States to achieve a fair and efficient asylum system.

In de uitspraak in zaak C-222/22 oordeelde het Hof van Justitie van de Europese Unie dat de Kwalificatierichtlijn zich verzet tegen een vermoeden dat elk volgend verzoek om internationale bescherming, gebaseerd op omstandigheden die de verzoeker heeft gecreëerd door zijn of haar eigen beslissing sinds het verlaten van het land van herkomst, voortkomt uit het oogmerk de procedure voor de verlening van internationale bescherming te misbruiken of te instrumentaliseren. Elk volgend verzoek moet op individuele basis worden beoordeeld.

Het Commissariaat Generaal voor de Vluchtelingen en de Staatlozen (CGVS) kondigde vandaag aan dat het de verwerking van Soedanese dossiers van Darfur, Kordofan, de Blauwe Nijl en Khartoum vanaf 26 februari 2024 zal hervatten.

In 2023 zijn er 287 vluchtelingen hervestigd in België, waaronder 154 Congolezen uit Rwanda, 81 Syriërs uit Turkije, Libanon, Jordanië en Egypte, en 26 Soedanezen, 18 Ethiopiërs en 8 Eritreeërs uit Egypte.

De staatssecretaris voor Asiel en Migratie kondigde vandaag aan dat aanvragen van nationaliteiten die weinig kans maken op internationale bescherming, met name Congolezen, Moldaviërs en Georgiërs, vanaf 1 februari in een versnelde procedure zullen worden behandeld.