Fast track procedure rejects 96 per cent of asylum seekers
Belgium's new "accelerated procedure" for asylum claims has so far rejected 96 per cent of applications, De Tijd reports. Outgoing state secretary for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor introduced the procedure to relieve the country's asylum services.
Since February, Belgium's Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS) has been allowed to fast-track asylum applications that have little chance of being accepted, for example because the person comes from a safe country.
Belgium's fast-track system is similar to the accelerated European border procedure included in the EU migration pact. It states that asylum seekers with little chance of recognition should receive a decision within 12 weeks. Belgium aims to do this within 50 working days.
Eight safe countries
The CGRS has so far fast-tracked the applications of 859 people, according to government figures. Only applications from people from the eight countries on the CGRS's list of safe countries - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, India and Moldova - and nationalities with a low chance of recognition are eligible.
The CGRS processes the files of people from safe countries within 14 working days, and those with low chances of protection within 40 working days. In particular, applications from Moldovan, Congolese and Georgian nationals end up on the fast track. Although they have a low chance of being granted asylum in Belgium, many nationals from these countries still apply for protection.
De Moor, who is part of the CD&V negotiating team in the formation of the federal government, wants to expand the procedure by taking all asylum seekers to be processed through the fast-track system to one location. This would save time and ensure that rejected asylum seekers leave the reception centre sooner, she says.
Asylum seekers wait outside the headquarters of the Fedasil asylum agency in Brussels © BELGA PHOTO ERIC LALMAND
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