The Federal Asylum and Migration Minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt (Flemish nationalist) has said that she will seek the support from the European Union to enable Belgium to return Afghan nationals that are residing in Belgium illegally or that have been convicted of criminal offences to their country of origin.
Asylum Minister wants to talk to the Taliban about sending home Afghans that commit crimes in Belgium
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Ms Van Bossuyt describes what she envisages as “purely technical cooperation” to establish the identity of the Afghans Belgium wishes to deport. “At a diplomatic level, we need to look at how to deal pragmatically with the Afghan regime”, Ms Van Bossuyt said on Friday.
The Federal Asylum and Migration Minister met earlier this week with European Commissioner for Migration Magnus Brunner to discuss the implementation of the European Migration Pact. Ms Van Bossuyt said that they discussed asylum applications from Afghan nationals and the need for a collective approach to the deportation of people that have committed crimes. On Saturday, Anneleen Van Bossuyt will attend an informal summit on migration in the German city of Munich with her German, French, Polish, Danish, Austrian and Czech counterparts.
There too, the Belgian Asylum and migration minister intends to discuss the issue of sending undocumented immigrants and convicted criminals back to Afghanistan. In a press release, Ms Van Bossuyt’s office points out that, for several years, Afghans have been among the nationalities submitting the most asylum applications in Belgium. Less than half of them are granted refugee status. However, deportations and voluntary returns are impossible at present because there are no diplomatic relations with the Taliban regime".
"This problem is not unique to Belgium. That is why solutions for the voluntary and forced return of Afghans must be sought at a European level. For those that have no future in the European Union, the message must be clear: return is the only option”.
Anneleen Van Bossuyt points out that many EU Member States are finding it difficult to return Afghans that are residing illegally. She hopes to form an alliance with other EU countries in order to break the deadlock on this issue.