Green chairmen call on Nicole de Moor to take action in an open letter: “Reception crisis has reached boiling point” | Inland

De Moor only took the oath to the king this morning, but the co-chairs of Groen are not letting grass grow on it. In an open letter to the State Secretary, Naji and Vaneeckhout refer to an investigation by Ghent University, which shows that a quarter of all asylum seekers in Belgium had already been raped at some point. This also sometimes happened during their stay in our country. According to the Groen chairmen, this is because many asylum seekers have to spend the night in the open air because there are insufficient reception places.

“That shows once again that the reception crisis has reached its boiling point,” say Naji and Vaneeckhout. The Greens propose, among other things, to use the untapped places for Ukrainian refugees for other asylum seekers, because “they are all people”. The Moors predecessor Sammy Mahdi (of whom she was private secretary; ed.) rejected that approach a few weeks ago.

The green duo also argues for a better framework for local authorities with full financing. This would encourage municipalities to create individual reception places on a voluntary basis and to immediately allocate asylum seekers from countries with a high degree of protection to the PCSWs.

If those solutions are not sufficient, according to Naji and Vaneeckhout, De Moor must look “without taboos at all possible solutions”. Earlier, the Greens had already put the option of temporary emergency shelter in hotel rooms on the table, but De Moor seemed to reject this solution during a press conference at her cabinet.

In any case, Groen wants to work with the State Secretary within the government to find a solution. “In us you will always find a loyal partner when it comes to people and real living together”, it sounds.

De Moor said that she will propose to the government on Thursday to set up an emergency shelter site. This may concern, for example, empty Defense buildings or tents.