Council of State bars Netherlands from sending male asylum seekers back to Belgium

Asylum Minister David van Weel (VVD) is not allowed to send single male asylum seekers back to Belgium, the Council of State has ruled. Normally, European countries are allowed to return asylum seekers to the country where they first registered. But in Belgium, there is a risk that these men will not be provided with “their most basic needs” such as shelter, hygiene, and food. According to the highest administrative court, this violates human rights, and therefore the Netherlands must process these men’s asylum applications itself.

The verdict was made in a case concerning a man who claims to have been born in Afghanistan. A predecessor of Van Weel decided not to process his asylum application.

The Dublin Regulation, as agreed upon in Europe, states that the responsibility lies with the first country in the Schengen free-travel zone where someone registers, Belgium, in this case.

But that does not work in this case, the Council of State thinks. They have concluded that Belgium had a temporary shortage in shelter places for single male asylum seekers and that this shortage has now become a structural issue.

Moreover, it is unclear whether these individuals have access to emergency or homeless shelters. Legal protection is also inadequate: the Belgian authorities do not comply with court rulings and fail to pay imposed penalties.

That is why the Council has come to what it describes as a grave conclusion. “There is a system failure for this group of asylum seekers in Belgium. Due to this, the men are not given basic necessities upon return to the country. This violates human rights.”

According to the highest administrative court, this undermines the Dublin system “and the loyal cooperation that is expected between EU member states.” The Netherlands can no longer rely on Belgium to provide adequate reception.

In March of last year, the council ruled that single male asylum seekers were allowed to be sent back to Belgium. The administrative court admitted that their situation was “on the poor side,” but Belgium had promised to work on improving the situation. “The information we have available to us has shown that the promise of improvement has not materialized and that there is no prospect of expanding reception capacity,” the Council of State now stated.