Welcoming Ukrainian refugees to Belgium: shame and sadness
This Friday, March 4, the Official Journal of the European Union published the decision to implement temporary protection in Europe for Ukrainians fleeing the war in their country. We have known for more than 10 days (the war started on February 24) that the European Union was going to have to welcome millions of refugees and that Belgium would take part of them.
If the solidarity endowed by the Belgian population is impressive and warms hearts, the official disorganization of the reception is appalling.
Since Monday March 7, 1,000 to 2,000 Ukrainians have lined up every day, standing on the sidewalk, in front of and around the former Bordet hospital in Brussels. Women, most often alone (the men remained in Ukraine to ensure the defense of the country), with children, sometimes very young. I saw a young mother with her five-month-old baby, old people, sick people.
This former disused hospital is the only place of contact for the whole of Belgium. It is not enough to show up to the task. There is no reception structure, except for three site toilets placed two meters from the line. Refugees are not given any official explanatory material. Volunteers from the Red Cross, other charities or the nearby Saint-Pierre hospital devote themselves to filling thermoses with coffee and families from the neighborhood are seen bringing sandwiches that they have made or bought themselves. .
The local population must make up for the implausible deficiencies of the reception.
We can be happy that it does not rain or snow. The Brussels police officers, who express their emotion, very kindly try to explain to these unfortunate people, some of whom have experienced the bombs, that they could not all be received on the same day. However, some in the hope of being recorded have already spent a night in their car, in the surroundings. They explain that they will spend a second if necessary.
Nothing, however, justified this disorganization. Belgium, all authorities taken together, has been able to set up vaccination centers that are efficient without failing to organise.
The temporary protection voted by the Council of Ministers of the European Union is granted on the sole presentation of a Ukrainian passport. It is therefore a question of receiving people who present their passport as we presented our identity cards. We have to encode their name instead of vaccinating them. The authorities had about ten days to organize themselves.
Do we not have enough dedicated civil servants? Was an unnecessarily complicated procedure created? Are we short of equipment? We do not know. The website of the Foreigners Office invites Ukrainians who already benefit from accommodation to leave the waiting file. It is true that the mere possession of a Ukrainian passport which authorizes you to stay in the European Union for three months and that there is therefore no urgency to register… provided that you are housed and fed in the family, friends or carers. For those who have no shelter, the Immigration Office announces that ” slots will be distributed in order to be able to distribute the registered during the day “. These first three days, these slots were non-existent. The website of the Immigration Office also announces that once registration has been completed, a certificate of temporary protection is issued. The Ukrainians we met had none.
Temporary protection makes it possible to register in a municipality. Those who have accommodation and have received a certificate of temporary protection at Bordet can try to register to receive a one-year residence permit (card A). The others must first find where to stay. Having an official address is a necessity. It conditions in particular the financial and medical assistance of the CPAS or to benefit from the assistance of the CPAS, he must be registered in the municipality. The municipalities contacted tell us either that they have no instructions or that they are asked before registering refugees to check that they really live at the address they mention. It is this formalism, inappropriate in the circumstances we live in, which is the cause of the fact that today only a small part of the refugees have been able to obtain the necessary documents.
It is urgent to resolve and simplify the formalities and to implement the means commensurate with the task.
Women, children and men, old or not, are fleeing the war. Some have experienced the horrors of armed conflict. They are deprived and psychologically weakened.
It is our duty to give them a dignified and genuine welcome.