BENELUX: Coalition dispute in Belgium prolongs ordeal for Palestinian scholarship students ― Draft law allowing ‘home visits’ moves forward in Belgian parliament ― Council of Europe publishes report on anti-trafficking measures in Belgium ― EU Court ru…

• An internal coalition dispute in the Belgian federal government is continuing to prevent a group of Palestinian students from taking up their scholarship places in various universities in the country.
• A draft law allowing Belgian police to enter the homes of certain foreign nationals living in the country has moved a step closer to adoption.
• The Council of Europe (CoE) has published a new report on Belgium’s implementation of the its anti-trafficking convention.
• The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has ruled that authorities in the Netherlands must process the asylum claims of more than 140,000 Ukrainian refugees.
• The Dutch government has announced plans to imprison unsuccessful asylum applicants who “actively obstruct” their deportation.
• An NGO has published an assessment of the first 100 days of the implementation of the EU Pact on migration and Asylum in the Netherlands.

An internal coalition dispute in the Belgian federal government is continuing to prevent a group of Palestinian students from taking up their scholarship places in various universities in the country. On 10 October, Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxim Prévot announced that, despite lengthy negotiations, no agreement had been reached that would allow the students to be evacuated from Gaza. The dispute, which has been running since the students were initially granted their scholarships in June, appears to be provking tensions between the five coalition parties. Announcing the latest setback, which he described as “humanly scandalous and politically regrettable” and for which he blamed the Reformist Movement (MR), Prévot said: “With this lack of agreement, which would cost the state nothing, [the students’] chance to leave the hell of Gaza to build a future for themselves and then contribute to that of their region of origin has come to a brutal end that does not honour the party that blocked it”. In a message to the Soir newspaper, student Ahmed Abu Jami lamented having become a “bargaining chip” for political parties while his fellow scholarship holder Abdulrahman Alaswad added: “Education is a fundamental human right, not a political concession”.

A draft law allowing Belgian police to enter the homes of certain foreign nationals living in the country has moved a step closer to adoption. On 7 October, the Federal Parliament Committee on the Interior, Security, Migration and Administrative Matters approved the draft legislation at second reading with a number of amendments. If it is approved by the full parliament, the proposed law would allow the Immigration Office (OE/DVZ) to seek authorisation from an investigating judge for police to enter a private residence and arrest a foreign national who is subject to a deportation order, refuses to comply with it and poses a threat to national security or public order. Opposition MPs have denounced the draft law as a rehash of one that was proposed but ultimately not approved in 2017. “They’re trying to make us believe the text is completely different, but that’s just wishful thinking,” said Claire Hugon Lecharlier from the Ecolo-Groen group.

The Council of Europe (CoE) has published a new report on Belgium’s implementation of its anti-trafficking convention. The report, which was prepared by the CoE Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) and which assesses the implementation of the CoE’s anti-trafficking convention in the period between July 2022 and June 2026, found that Belgian authorities had strengthened the legal and policy framework against human trafficking but were still failing to provide sufficient protection to vulnerable asylum applicants. It also welcomed the measures that had been taken by the authorities to combat the growing sexual exploitation of children and young people, and urged them to conduct a review of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Reform Law, to increase funding to specialised centres for trafficking victims and to ensure that victims have access to legal aid, compensation and a recovery and reflection period.

The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has ruled that authorities in the Netherlands must process the asylum claims of more than 140,000 Ukrainian refugees. The ruling relates to the case of a Chinese man referred to as ‘UB’ who applied for asylum when he arrived in the Netherlands with his Ukrainian wife and their child in March 2022. The Dutch authorities granted UB temporary protection status and suspended the examination of his asylum application. In early 2024, he complained that the Minister for Asylum and Immigration had failed to take a decision on his asylum application within the time limits laid down by EU law and eventually brought the matter before The Hague District Court. On 1 October, the CJEU ruled inter alia that “EU law permits a beneficiary of temporary protection to lodge an application for international protection” and that “the rejection of that application does not result in the loss of temporary protection status, as the two procedures may proceed simultaneously and independently”. It also found that “a generalised and automatic suspension of the examination of applications for international protection during the period of temporary protection would run counter to the very purpose of that protection”. Commenting on the ruling, ECRE member organisation the Dutch Council for Refugees (DCR) called for a “quick and thorough assessment of [temporary protection holders’] residence permits, so that these people, who have already been through so much, know where they stand”.

The Dutch government has announced plans to imprison unsuccessful asylum applicants who “actively obstruct” their deportation. On 7 October, Minister of Asylum and Migration Bart van den Brink presented a draft law that would allow for people who refuse to comply with deportation orders to be imprisoned for up to six months. The announcement came on the same day as the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) repeated its warning about the acute shortage of asylum reception places in the Netherlands. According to the COA, the shortage is due to a backlog that has resulted from people staying in reception centres longer due to a combination of slow procedures at the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) and the judiciary, and a lack of housing for people who are granted protection status. Urging municipalities to co-operate to resolve the situation, COA head, Remco Bakker, said: “We must work together to ensure that people do not end up on the streets. It is inhumane”.

An NGO has published an assessment of the first 100 days of the implementation of the EU Pact on migration and Asylum in the Netherlands. According to the report, which was published by DCR on 8 October, the new system has accelerated procedures but they are “not yet working well for everyone”. The report is based on interviews with 88 DCR team leaders combined with inputs from the Dutch Association of Asylum Lawyers and Legal Practitioners (VAJN), and includes recommendations for improvements in a number of areas, including vulnerability screening, legal counselling and family reunification. DCR concludes: “The first 100 days show that a faster asylum procedure can only work if it is also careful and fair”.

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