20-month-old baby becomes latest victim of mismanagement of Belgium authorities

By Selen Temizer

BRUSSELS (AA) - A 20-month-old baby has become the latest victim of the mismanagement by Belgian authorities in processing applications for asylum seekers.

The baby, who was accompanied by her mother, spent the night on the streets as they waited outside the Belgian Federal Asylum Seeker Reception Agency (Fedasil) to submit their application.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) official Julien Buha Collette told Anadolu Agency they suspected the baby had caught malaria, but it turned out to be a urinary tract infection.

Collette said they referred the baby to Saint-Pierre Hospital for treatment.

MSF will work for the baby to be prioritized and transferred to the reception center, she added.

For more than a year, Belgium's reception centers have been full.

Asylum seekers who want to be the first to submit their application when the office opens in the morning spend the night outside Fedasil in Brussels, the capital of the EU.

Some are forced to stay on the streets for weeks.

At the initiative of NGOs, the Brussels Principal Civil Court ordered Fedasil to pay a fine of €5,000 for every day in which "at least one person is not given a place to stay or an asylum application is not received."

However, the heavy penalties imposed since the beginning of the year could not mobilize the Belgian state to solve the problem.

While asylum seekers from Africa and Asia wait for months to have their applications accepted, Ukrainians are welcomed with open arms.

Belgium allowed Ukrainians to register quickly, then granted them the right to residency and work permits, as well as to benefit from education and health services, and also provided them with opportunities such as "social welfare, housing and livelihood benefits."​​​​​​​