The Belgian government is under pressure to provide residence permits to hundreds of immigrants, some of whom are “between life and death” after weeks of hunger strikes in Brussels.
Undocumented immigrants went on a hunger strike for nearly 60 days in churches and university buildings in central Brussels in an attempt to obtain a residence permit.
There are more and more warnings about their condition, especially after refusing to drink water last Friday. Last month, at least four men sewed their lips together to fight for them to legally enter the job market and social services.
Monday, two United Nations Officials urged the Belgian government to provide temporary residence permits to hunger strike protesters, which NGOs call 476.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Extreme Poverty, Olivier De Schutter, said: “The information we have received is shocking. Some of the hunger strikers are at stake.”
About 150,000 Illegal immigrant live Belgium, According to the election team we are Belgium Likewise, this calls for the regularization of undocumented immigrants, many of whom are said to have been in the country for 5 to 10 years or more.
After the socialists threatened to withdraw from the seven-party alliance, a snowball of political dispute threatened the government. Deputy Prime Minister Pierre-Yves Dermagne said that if any hunger striker died, he and other Socialist Ministers would withdraw from the government. The Ecological Party has issued a similar threat, threatening to overthrow the “Vivaldi” coalition led by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. He was sworn in last September.
The Belgian Minister of Asylum and Immigration, Sammy Mahdi, refused to grant a full amnesty to all undocumented workers in the country, but established a “neutral zone” near the Baroque church, which accommodated some hunger strikers. There they can receive information about how they obtained residency status.
“When people put their lives in danger, it is necessary to explain the rules well and explain what to do and what not to do,” Mahdi said. “The neutral zone is very important to explain to them why they have the opportunity to be formalized.”
De Crowe expressed complete confidence in his minister, while his allies of the Flemish Liberal Party criticized the threat of overthrowing the government as “irresponsible and incomprehensible.”
The last permanent government of Belgium led by French-speaking liberal Charles Michel was often divided by immigration issues, and eventually Regarding the continuous collapse of the UN Migration Agreement.
As Belgium held a national day of mourning for the victims of the devastating flood last week, De Crowe said that “there is no precedent in our country”, which sparked political controversy. According to official statistics, 31 people were killed in the flood and 70 people are still missing.
De Crowe and his senior minister were scheduled to join King Philip to attend a ceremony in the eastern Belgian city of Verviers, where the streets turned into dirty brown water.The total death toll in Western Europe is close to 200, of which 165 Confirmed death in neighboring Germany.
