39,615 people requested asylum in Belgium last year, a notable increase (of 12%) compared to 2023, the office of the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor communicated on Thursday. The number of people from the Palestinian territories has increased significantly (+74%) among applicants. They are also the first group in terms of nationality, ahead of Syria, Eritrea and Turkey.
A very large proportion of these 39,615 asylum seekers, or 15,685 people, had in reality already started a procedure in another European country, which can be verified with the fingerprints recorded at the time of the request. According to the “Dublin Regulation“, it is the first country of registration (and not Belgium) which is supposed to be responsible for processing the application. In fact, we know that the application of this principle has always been piecemeal, among other things because it places a disproportionate burden on the main countries of entry, Greece and Italy in the lead.
Despite everything, it is one of Secretary of State Nicole de Moor’s hobbyhorses, within the government in current affairs. She repeats it on Thursday: “We must make it very clear to people that after a decision in one country, there is no point in trying again in Belgium”. The new European Pact on Migration and Asylum, definitively adopted last May and which should experience its first significant effects in 2026, should change the situation and clarify the rules as to the main country responsible for the request, hopes the cabinet de Moor.
-There were just over 1.13 million asylum applications in the EU in 2023, including 1,049,550 first applications. The main country for these first requests is Germany, which alone will account for 329,000 first-time applicants in 2023. For 2024, there would be a slight drop in the total number of requests on a European scale. Belgium is, however, one of a handful of countries where an increase is observed.
Nicole de Moor Palestinian asylum requests
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