But the Council of State said the lack of shelter for single male asylum-seekers in Belgium was now “structural” rather than “temporary.” It added that the group also lacks “access to effective legal protection because the Belgian authorities fail to comply with court rulings and fail to pay penalty payments.”
Belgian authorities’ “indifference” toward addressing those shortcomings has snowballed into a “systemic failure,” the Council of State said.
Responding to the ruling, Belgium’s Migration Minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt said her country’s asylum shortcomings aren’t the result of authorities’ indifference — as the Dutch Council of State put it — but of “years-long structural overburdening.”
“What we’re currently experiencing is not a uniquely Belgian problem, but a symptom of an overburdened asylum system, which many EU member states are facing,” she said.
The government has plans to reduce immigration, increase deportations and counter abuse of asylum procedures to “be able to offer humane protection to those who are entitled to it,” she argued.
Belgium prioritizes families and women when offering asylum shelter; single men must register on a waiting list.
As of last week, there were 1,800 men on that list. The number has been decreasing in recent months and many of them “are receiving temporary shelter in homeless shelters in Brussels,” Fedasil, Belgium’s asylum agency, said.
This story has been updated with reaction from Belgium’s migration minister.