The number of reports to the Flemish Reporting Center for Cross-Border Behavior increased to 1,545 in 2025, more than half the number of 954 reports the year before. This is evident from the 2025 annual report of the Flemish Justice & Enforcement Agency (AJH).
Source: Belga
The threshold for reporting inappropriate behavior appears to have been significantly reduced in the past year. In 2025, the Flemish Reporting Center registered 1,545 reports, an increase of more than fifty percent compared to the 954 files the year before. The vast majority (1,045) came from the victims themselves, although concerned family members and professional care providers also find their way to the reporting center. The lion’s share of the files revolve around unwanted sexual behavior (721) and psychological violence (481), followed by bullying and physical aggression.
This increasing trend is also palpable at the Recognition and Mediation Commission (COMEB), which takes care of historical abuse from more than ten years ago. The committee saw the number of registrations increase from 121 to 180. The report explicitly points to the impact of media: almost a quarter of the new files were directly linked to the shock wave that the VTM documentary ‘The Nuns’ brought about. “Certain triggers ensure that people often only dare to break their silence after many years,” the report says.
Domestic violence is also increasingly emerging from the shadows. The Safe Houses saw their reach increase by thirty percent in one year: from 4,373 to 5,710 registrations and consultations.
“The suffering behind the front door received little attention within the justice system for years,” said CEO Bob Van den Broeck, Administrator General of the AJH. “We are now rapidly correcting that mistake. We are reaching thirty percent more families. We are still a long way from that, but there is more hope than ever.”
Ground sleepers
But while the figures for victim support are relatively hopeful, Van den Broeck also paints a disturbing picture of the prison system in his foreword. He speaks plainly about a “deep systemic crisis”.
The federal decision to also effectively implement short prison sentences (under three years) has derailed overcrowding in Flemish penal institutions. The sad result in 2025 was an all-time record of 770 ‘floor sleepers’: prisoners for whom no bed is available and who have to spend the night on a mattress on the prison floor.
To relieve the pressure on the cells, the justice system continues to focus on alternative punishments. Electronic monitoring is on the rise, with a new daily record of 2,099 active ankle bracelets this month. A total of 4,510 were started last year. Striking: about half of these concerned people in pre-trial detention. They were allowed to await the outcome of their trial in their own living room under strict conditions.
Finally, the ankle bracelet trend extends to juvenile crime. In 2025, 73 minors (mainly 16 and 17 year olds) wore an electronic ankle bracelet. This alternative legal remedy, which has been legally enshrined since mid-2024, is mainly used for serious crimes: drug trafficking (42 files) and theft with violence or extortion (20 files).
