Center for Studies on Ethnicity and Migrations (CEDEM)
University of Liège

 EASY SCAPEGOATS : UNDOCUMENTED 
IMMIGRANTS IN EUROPE

Belgian Report 

By Bonaventure Kagné

Supervised by Marco Martiniello

European Projet under coordination of  Freudenberg Stiftung Foundation, in partnership with the King Baudouin Foundation
- July 2000 -
ISBN : 2-87212-321-0/Dépôt légal : D/2000/2848/34

1. Introduction

Since the end of the second half of the nineties the problem of “undocumented immigrants” has been in the headlines of the mass media, in public opinion and on the political platform of many member states of the European Union. In Belgium, in order to size up and understand the actions carried out concerning this phenomenon, it is important to place it in the larger context of the immigration policy and the right to asylum conducted by the public authorities in recent years.

The petrol crisis in 1973 and its consequences in many domains led the Belgian state, by decision of the Cabinet on August 1, 1974, to put an end to the policy of work immigration with a quota begun after the war. The first wave of massive regularisation of persons without residence permits was carried out at this time.

Since the official end of work immigration, only certain categories of highly qualified workers have been allowed to immigrate of by means of work permits; family reunion which reunites family members of people living in Belgium, admission of foreign students for the length of their studies, free circulation of citizens from other European member states and the right of asylum have continued.

Also since 1974, the selection, admission, entry, visit, and settling of foreigners have been based on more and more restrictive legislative and statutory provisions, provoking the growth of illegal immigration. The December 15, 1980 law concerning territorial access, visit, settling and distancing of foreigners constitutes the basic text on questions of foreigners’ administrative status. It has been modified more than twenty times. The main changes took place in 1987, 1991, 1993 and 1996 in matters which concern refugees. The Belgian nationality code which was adopted in June 1984, has also been modified on several occasions, in 1991, 1995, 1998 and in 2000; moreover, the December 22, 1999 law (which took effect January 10, 2000) concerns the regularisation of residence permits of some categories of foreigners living in the Kingdom. The many modifications have centred on at least four major points all pointing to stronger restrictions and limitations for entry to the territory. It concerns the conditions for entry to the territory (granting visas sparingly), the procedures for recognition of the refugee status (restricted and varying interpretation of international texts according to the interests of the state and the immigration candidates), the conditions for residence, settling, distancing, social protection and foreigners’ access to the labour market (hardening of the conditions to be met ). Moreover, beginning in the middle of the eighties, the process of making  immigration and asylum policies at the European level the same in all countries leans towards limiting as much as possible the arrival of non-European foreigners. However, in recent months in Belgium, noticeable and important progress has been made about the question of foreigners’ nationality rights. 

The variations and hardening of immigration policies and asylum has caused many persons either to lose the benefits of a visa previously granted or to choose other ways to reach the territory, which has been transformed into a fortress, at least in regard to some categories of national populations from countries outside the European Union. These policies are more steeped in security varnish in times of difficult economic circumstances. On the other side, they contradict some international norms, notably, the International Pact of December 19, 1966, concerning civil rights and policies, of which article 12 stipulates that: “Anyone legally found in the territory of a country has the right to freely circulate and to freely choose his residence. Every person is free to leave any country including his own”; likewise, article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights underlines that ‘Every person has the right to circulate and to choose his residence inside a country; every person has the right to leave any country including his own and to return to his country”. We must underline that one of the principal charcterist of the International norms is their non-binding nature.

These different restrictive national mechanisms   in matters of crossing borders mentioned above are a part of the essential factors which are at the root of the emergence of persons called “undocumented immigrants”. Who are the undocumented immigrants? How does a person become one? What is their profile?

In general, in spite of its frequent use in several professional fields (associative sector, liberal professions, civil servants, political and academic milieus…) the expression “undocumented immigrants” does not have a legal definition.  It is a concept which has been borrowed from France since the Saint-Bernard affair in 1996. Even so, as Johanna Simeant emphasises when analysing the situation of undocumented immigrants in France, as it is used more and more, and at least in legal texts, one could give it a legal content. But, whether in France or in Belgium, the use of the concept of foreigner is preferred, at least in legislative or legal texts. In France, it is the question of a foreigner in an illegal situation, dismissed asylum seekers making up the greatest number. The expression of “undocumented immigrants” has the advantage of being inclusive and global in defining the administrative situation of a certain number of persons. It has the defect of not explaining the plurality of the individual paths and administrative situations which characterise the concerned persons. In any case, it gives little concrete indication about the nature of their migratory route, the way they came into the territory, etc. The expression “undocumented immigrants” can be extended to any person without any official identity paper, source of rights and duties, allowing its carrier to show, in case of need, not only his national belonging, but also his status in relation to the territory where he is found.

Since then, following the ideas of Claudine Dardy, one can distinguish the identity papers which allow one to justify ”who I am” in relation to birth certificates which come from the analysis of biographical history and life events. Because in order to be identified as a full human being , with a name, a face, and to enjoy the rights and duties inherent in any human society, it is necessary to be registered with the administration, an operation which is made real by an “identity“ paper delivered by the competent authorities. Our social relations are affected every day by having these different documents. The identity card seems to be a cardinal vector of social existence. In a foreign country, even if the identity paper from the home country plays the role of the primary document, the residence permit usually plays the role of the most important document to which all the others are linked in a legal manner.

The undocumented immigrants have no legal residence permit delivered by the competent authorities of the country where they lives. However, usually, in public opinion and in the mass media as well as in the words of many politicians’, in Belgium the idea of undocumented immigrants is connected to being a refugee, sometimes an asylum seeker, etc. Nevertheless, the asylum seeker is theoretically holder of a temporary residence permit until a definite decision has been made about his demand. Consequently, he cannot be considered to be an undocumented immigrant. Even someone who has an extendible order to leave the territory cannot be considered to be an undocumented immigrant, since he has an official document, although certainly precarious, delivered by the authorities. On the contrary, a person seeking recognition as a refugee who has used up not only all of the means of administrative and legal appeal, but also the benefits of possible extensions for the order to leave the territory, becomes a undocumented immigrant.

Linked to this, several categories of  ‘without papers’ or undocumented immigrants can be distinguished:
•	A Belgian without his identity card for different reasons and who has problems to obtain a temporary substitution document;   
•	A foreigner who has lost the benefit of his residence permit;
•	A former student  whose student residence permit is out of date and who has received an order to leave the territory;
•	A student without documents because of his parents’ status;
•	A student with no status;
•	Persons waiting for a decision from the Office of Foreigners; whose papers are out of date;
•	Persons waiting for re-inscription after been stricken from the population registers (this can be the case of some nationals of the European Union);
•	Persons involved in procedures to request an extension of their residence permit  or visa (these persons have no official document because of delays due to the Foreigners’ Office, or to their own negligence);
•	Former personnel of embassies or international organisations who did not want to return at the end of their mandate or who have problems with their governments;
•	Former athletes (football players for example);
•	Persons who had in the past obtained a residence permit and who, for many reasons, no longer have it (not being able to return to the starting point, these persons fall into the grip of becoming clandestine);
•	Unaccompanied minors without a status;
•	Persons dismissed in the context of family reunification procedures which were unfounded;
•	Former tourists, that is persons who have obtained a temporary territorial entry visa and who haven’t left at the end of the granted visa (these persons’ presence is known to the administrative authorities, some of them have children who attend public or private schools. 
•	Former spouses of Belgians deprived of their residence permit for different reasons (fraudulent marriage and loss of Belgian nationality for example);
•	Victims of human (slave) traders;
•	Refused asylum seekers who are still in the national territory for different reasons; either wilfully, or who are unable to leave the territory or to follow up on the decision to leave (seriously ill persons or persons declared unable to be distanced);
•	Illegals, that is persons who entered the territory fraudulently and who existence is unknown to the public authorities (they are usually people who came alone or by a clandestine network for work. They are often exploited in many ways);
•	Refugees who have lost their status for different reasons.

This diversity of undocumented immigrants, or susceptible of being, is added to an approximate estimation of their numbers. If one refers to case-files entered in the context of the regularisation campaign, they number 32,662 and concern more than 50,000 people. At present, most of the candidates for regularisation come from the former Belgium colony (the Democratic Republic of Congo) and former protectorates (Rwanda, Burundi), and other countries from Africa such as Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Togo, the Ivory Coast, and Angola. One also finds persons from countries belonging to former immigrant installation with whom Belgian had made bilateral agreements in the past for importing labour: among these, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey. The nationals of regions of the Near East (Irakiens, Kurds), South America (Chile) Oriental Europe and the Balkans (ex-Yugoslavians, Yugoslavians, Kosovars, Macedonians, Bosnians, Albanians), Central and Eastern Europe (Poles, Romanians, Gypsies …) and South and South-eastern Asia (Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese, …) must be added to this. Qualitatively, the majority of the candidates seem to be former seekers of refugee status, followed by people refused for family reunification, clandestine workers and human trade victims.

2. 	Legal and Socio-economic exclusion of ‘undocumented immigrants’

The exclusion of undocumented immigrants is very strong in Belgium in every domain of life in the society. This being put in the background is especially noticeable in the domain of access to the labour market, medical care, housing or in benefiting from some rights  due to any individual in a society, notably education (except for children subjected to mandatory schooling, at least in the majority of cases) and to a dignified human existence.

2.1 	Treatment of undocumented immigrants by the political system and Belgian public authorities

Two important moments concern the actions of both and deserve to be underlined:
•	Before the death of Semira Adamu, a demander of the refugee status from Nigeria, there was a certain indifference about undocumented immigrants except for the support from some associative organisations and some people from political circles and/or civilians acting on their own. Either they were uninterested or ignorant of what was happening, or there was even hostility on the part of the political authorities as well as that of the population on the whole.
•	The death of Ms. Semira Adamu, on September 28, 1998, during the state police’s sixth attempt to forcibly expel her, was a turning point. This caused a shock in the Belgian population, and even in the opinion of certain foreign countries. From this time on, there has been more and more interest shown for the cause of the undocumented immigrants, by certain politicians as well as people from the civilian society. The solidarity movements created around church and public building sit-ins  in the winter of 1998 come in the scope of the desire of the  people to know about the conditions which pushed the undocumented immigrants to come to Belgium, and about their precarious situation. It is with these intentions that acts of support from different circles have multiplied.

In fact, concerning the treatment of people without documents by the political system, the action of the public authorities towards the undocumented immigrants mainly consists in managing some accommodation centres (either directly themselves, or indirectly, especially using the services of some NGO’s or associations, that is the case of the Red Cross), open centres and closed retention centres for illegal foreigners, and the administrative and technical organisation for territorial expulsions and recently - as will be seen further on - campaigns for the regularisation of residence permits for some categories of foreigners staying in the Kingdom. 

In fact, one cannot help but notice that the intervention of the public authorities is more focused on the legislation linked to the administrative status of foreigners in general. Whether in the field of work, health, housing, or other domains, the actions of the public authorities is concerned with legal and administrative arrangements. At the administrative level, mostly to deliver papers. Whether someone has become a undocumented immigrant after running out of administrative or legal means of appeal in the context of a special procedure or if someone has entered the territory in a fraudulent manner, in both of these cases the State has no special measures in this regard.  Its operations are situated at the check points when people cross the borders and, inside the country, at the level of organising welcome centres (for people asking to be recognised as refugees and transferees) and retention centres in order to distance foreigners from the territory.

In 1998, however, in the Flemish part of the country, the Flemish parliament adopted a decree on April 18, 1998 (the Belgian Monitor, which is the official government publication, of June 19, 1998), relative to the Flemish policy concerning ethno-cultural minorities. As Nouria Ouali has shown, the Flemish policy concerning minorities was until then focused on legal immigrants settled in Flemish territory. Following numerous complaints from the integration sector (such as those by the Steunpunt Mensen Zonder Papieren association) over the last ten years in Flanders, the new decree by the Flemish authorities extends the target public. Article 2 lists different categories of people targeted. Other than persons who reside legally in Belgium, who from this time on are listed as recognised refugees, it includes asylum seekers who are still involved in the procedures, nomads (especially Gypsies) and the groups of people who live illegally in Belgium and who ask for aid or accommodation because of their precarious situation. In reality, the last category concerns the undocumented immigrants. The Flemish policy concerning the minorities as defined in the decree is developed around three axles. First of all, an emancipation policy destined to encourage the integration of the targeted groups. Secondly, a policy of accommodation for those who come to settle in Flanders in the case of family reunification, the objective being to direct and stimulate the new arrivals to participate in the social life. Finally, a policy of aid or accompaniment of persons with no visiting permits who are in the Flemish linguistic region or in the bilingual Brussels-capital region; it is conducted mainly in the domains of social services, health services and education policy. One of the new points of the decree is the taking into account and financing by the Flemish authorities of the associations and organisations whose activities concern the defence of cultural minorities’ rights, and the welcome and help for refugees and nomads. In the same way, minority representation  is foreseen in all the newly created organs and authorities by the decree. In particular, the Flemish centre for ethno-cultural minority consultation (article 10) and the Support Centres at the regional level, the Integration Services at the provincial level (one for each target group), Help Cells for refugees and nomads, local Integration Centres, and integration service and local antennas. Article 8 establishes the necessity of taking concrete action to associate target groups in the decision making process for questions of minority policies at the corresponding level, the objective is to be more efficient. At this time, for that which concerns undocumented immigrants, this voluntarist attitude still remains to really be put into practice. However, the financing of organisations like Steunpunt - as will be seen farther on - indirectly permits the authorities to come to the help of this group of persons.

2.2 	Social Help and access to health care

As previously emphasised, undocumented immigrants are part of a larger population category, the foreign population. In fact, as well as by law, as in most countries, all foreigners are not subject to the same rights and duties in Belgium. Article 12, paragraph 1 of the Belgian Civil Code stipulates that “ in Belgium, a foreigner has the advantage of all the same recognised civil rights as Belgians, except those established by the law”. Clause 2 makes an immediate distinction between foreigners by alluding to the foreigner admitted to settle in the Kingdom and inscribed in the population registry who are given the advantage of all the recognised civil rights for Belgians as long as he/she continues to live in Belgium.

Since the coordinated Constitution on February 17, 1994, it has been accepted that “every foreigner who is in Belgian territory has the advantage of protection granted to persons and goods, other than exceptions established by the law (article191)”. It is important to note that in reality, this assimilation of principles is of an uneasy application, especially for undocumented immigrants. To find oneself in an unlawful situation and claim the benefit, for example, of the right to social, medical, and legal aid, such as the right to health protection and social security as established by article 23 of the Belgian constitution is not easy. Also, should one moderate these dispositions when they concern people with no legal status. 

All foreigners do not have the right to social assistance. However, asylum seekers whose demand is still being considered by a jurisdiction have the right to social assistance. On the contrary, article 57, paragraph 2 of the August 7, 1976 law, concerning Public Centres of Social Assistance, article 1, 57 and 60 paragraph 1 (Belgian Monitor, August 5, 1976) arranges that “ by dispensation to other arrangements of the present law, the mission of the Public Centre for Social Assistance is limited to granting medical social assistance, concerning a foreigner who is illegally in the Kingdom”.  

Thus, a person to whom social assistance had been granted and who has used up all the means of appeal and has been notified a definite order to leave the territory, loses the benefit of social assistance, with the exception of urgent medical aid. A dispensation to this arrangement remains possible during the length of time strictly necessary to permit the foreigner to leave the territory, not to exceed one month under any circumstances.

By decision number 43/98 on April 22, 1998, the arbitration court set a precedent by limiting the constitutionality of interpretation of article 57 of the law of July 8, 1976 by arranging that the person who has received a definite order to leave the territory at a determined date will not receive, if he has not obeyed, any more social assistance, with the one exception of urgent medical care. The legislation has used, as the court judged in its decision number 5d1/94 on June 29, 1994, a means whose results permit them to reach the desired objective and to incite the concerned person to obey the order. 

The question that can be asked here is to know if the introduction of a demand for regularisation by an illegal foreigner opens the door to social assistance. It is foreseen in article 14 of the December 22, 1999 law that “ other than the distancing measures motivated by order or national security, or unless the demand obviously does not answer to the conditions in article 9, a distancing will not be materially carried out between the introduction of the demand and the day when a negative decision has been made in application of article 12”. In addition, the demander for regularisation must be in Belgian territory at the time of his demand in order to be able to support it. In order to realise this project, he/she must be in condition to lead a life of human dignity.

As pertains to the decision of the Verviers court on March 28, 2000, handed down in a case opposing the Public Centre for Social Assistance and a demander for regularisation in application of the law of December 22, 1999, article 57 paragraph 2 the August 7, 1976 law does not apply to a foreigner who consequently has the right to social assistance, in order to live in dignified human conditions in the Belgian territory during the time necessary to support his demand for the regularisation of his stay. This results from the principle that the demander, who is authorised to stay, must be able to survive and, consequently, to benefit from social assistance.  On the same way, it pertains to the decisions of the Bruxelles labour court on march 3, 2000 and may 18, 2000 (R.G. 15.598/00) that the person having asked the regulation on the basis of the December 22, 1999 law concerning the regularisation of residence permits of some categories of foreigners living in the Kingdom, keeps the right to social assistance as long as an unfavourable decision related to higher demand for regularisation has not taken place.

All things considered, social assistance to persons without visiting documents are often the objects of controversy in political circles. All those who have received this assistance for the moment have gone through the courts. The principle remains that social assistance is only granted to persons whose regularisation demand has resulted in a positive response. Some politicians such as Johan Vande Lanotte, the federal Budget and Social Integration Minister, plead for this assistance to be given only to persons having proved their integration into the labour market. At least this is what is interpreted from his comments during one of his recent declarations about the subject: “I think that the first thing to do is to apply the law for the regularised candidate then one can work and apply the law when there is a demand of social assistance; first check and try to put people to work and only if one has checked that they have done this, decide about social assistance” 

2.3 	Housing

Just as in matters of access to work and the right to social and medical assistance, housing constitutes one of the biggest problems to which undocumented immigrants  and the organisations that try to help them are regularly confronted. 

In this matter, article 23 of the Belgian constitution of February 17, 1994 establishes the principle of recognition of economic, social and cultural rights for everyone. Among these rights is the right to decent accommodation. Beyond the universal character that the legislator thought should be given to this arrangement, its application comes up against numerous difficulties in reality, a condition worsened when it is a question of undocumented immigrants, even if these people are not the only ones with this problem.

In fact, even though the laws do not forbid people illegally in Belgium to sign a lease, one is forced to admit that the problems they must face are multiplied, especially when they have little financial means. The rights and the obligations which govern the relationship between renters and landlords are more often than not, as has been commented on by some workers, if not trampled on, voluntarily unknown to the landlords whose only objective is to bring in money.

Among the problems with which the undocumented immigrants are confronted in matters of accommodation, one can mention the absence of financial resources for rent deposits (in general, one needs three months of rent) and the difficulties in proving a regular income.  

The public authorities do not have special policies concerning accommodation for undocumented immigrants. They are excluded from planning  in management and allocation of public or semi-private housing. By definition having no status, they are not taken care of by the authorities. The undocumented immigrants can thus only turn to associations who say they have enormous problems trying to satisfy all the demands they receive.

The associations themselves are faced with financial problems  and only have very small means to use in this way. In addition, they do not all want to have the undocumented immigrants as a target public; in so far as they work for the long term. Sometimes they even refuse the asylum seekers because they do not know if they will be taken to the border in a brief or short time.

All things considered, only some associations (Steunpunt Mensen Zonder Papieren, Co-ordination et Initiatives for Refugees and Foreigners, Point d’Appui, Aide aux Personnes Deplacées,…) fight to try to find housing and accommodation for the undocumented immigrants. Sometimes, they take upon themselves to take the necessary steps themselves. 

Segregation in certain areas

It is difficult to talk about residential segregation for undocumented immigrants in terms of geographical location. If there is a concentration of foreigners in general in a neighbourhood, this comes about in an implicit manner and through affinity between the communities because the undocumented immigrants go where they will find accommodation. In general they are settled in the big cities where it is relatively easier to find an undeclared job.

2.4	Work

Access to the labour market for the undocumented immigrants is the object of restrictive legal measures in relation to foreigners. In fact, the foreigner who is not allowed or authorised to stay or settle in the Kingdom is excluded. Among the twenty-some categories of persons exempted from the obligation to obtain a work permit which are listed in the Royal Decree of June 9,1999; the undocumented immigrants are not included. The complexity and contradictions of the legal  and governing texts on the question do not make the work easy for the civil servants or the people’s life.

In addition, to be able to work, the foreigners must have both the required work permits and residence permits. Professional authorisation and work permits depend on the context of the labour market and, in general, this authorisation is only given if it is not possible to find among the workers on the labour market a worker apt to do the job satisfactorily and within a reasonable time period, even if professional training is necessary,.

The granting of a work permit comes under the responsibility of regional authorities which act according to the context and the political priorities of the moment.

In addition, all residence permits do not automatically give the right to a work permit. The validity of the latter is always conditioned by the residence permit or authorisation. One could mention the cases of demanders of recognition as refugees who are waiting for a definite decision. On demand, the temporary work permit which is granted to them remains valid as long as their case is pending before an administration or court. A negative decision accompanied by an order to leave the territory invalidates this temporary authorisation to work. 

Having said this, the undocumented immigrant does not have (or no longer has) a residence permit.   Thus, he cannot easily claim the right of access to the labour market. Working legally becomes impossible for this category of foreigners. However, in reality, these persons are employed informally. Generally, they are used in the construction sector, for seasonal jobs such as picking fruit or vegetables, in restaurants, cafes and hotels, for domestic jobs and as cleaners. etc. The conditions and places of work are not very safe, the precariousness of their administrative status gives them little possibility to complain without the risk of losing the little income they get. The most frequent problems noted by the NGOs concern excessive work hours, salaries under the legal minimum, or sometimes not paid at all. Briefly, the rights and duties in matters of work are far from being respected by the employers and are most often unknown by the employees who do not have the required official documents. These people live in an extremely precarious situation.

The right to unemployment benefits in case of job loss is not guaranteed because the work was done illegally and the employer has not paid the employer’s contributions to the National Office of Social Security, resulting in the loss of the right to paid vacation, pensions, etc.

One of the most important risks incurred by the undeclared worker is to be arrested and taken to the border for undeclared work and illegal residence. 

Moreover, free lance work (for example as a restaurant or grocery store manager) cannot be exercised without authorisation. One must have a professional card, only given to foreigners allowed to settle or visit in the Kingdom. Access to a profession proves to be impossible for any person lacking the official residence document. The law concerning this, foresees obtaining the professional card at the Belgian embassy in the home country or legal residence. 

In case of an accident in the workplace, the illegal worker has nevertheless the right to compensation, to be requested from the Work Accidents Fund, as long as certain conditions are met: proof of the place of accident in relation to the place of work, prove that one really works in Belgium for an employer subject to the work legislation, a medical certificate listing the bodily injuries suffered. All this is totally illusory in the case of person without residence document.  

However, even if application of the laws runs up against numerous difficulties, the federal Minister of Employment and Work recently made a decision on April 6, 2000, coming into effect on the same day, concerning temporary work authorisations for foreign citizens having introduced their demand for regularisation of their situation. Thus, article 1 of the text extends the possibility to deliver a temporary work authorisation to certain categories of persons such as:

•	Foreign citizens who have introduced a demand for regularisation of their residence based on the December 22, 1999 law concerning the regularisation of residence of certain categories of foreigners living in the territory of the Kingdom.
•	Foreign citizens having introduced before January 10, 2000 a demand for regularisation based on article 9, paragraph  3 of the December 15, 1980 law concerning  entry to the territory, stay, settling  and distancing of foreigners who have not yet been subject to a decision based on the December 15, 1998 relative to the application of article 9, paragraph  3 of the December 15, 1980 law concerning the access to the territory, stay, settling  and distancing of foreigners and the regularisation of special situations.

The text says that even though the delivery of temporary work authorisation does not carry with it the delivery of a work permit for the worker, this authorisation is delivered for a period of maximum one year and can be renewed, it ends as soon as a decision has been handed down about the regularisation. The documents to be supplied are a form demanding the authorisation to work for foreign workers, a copy of the work contract and a copy of the acknowledgement of reception for the introduction of the demand for regularisation of residence or, if this is not possible, a certificate proving that such a demand has been filed. This arrangement is new in that the filing of a demand of regularisation by an undocumented immigrant changes an aspect of the person’s situation, in particular, the right to work.

2.5	Other sources of income

In principle, except for resources from undeclared work which some undocumented immigrants do occasionally, they do not have any other source of income.

In Belgium there are Public Centres of Social Assistance which guarantee to all persons on Belgian territory a legal minimum existence. The benefit of this aid is nevertheless subject to a certain number of conditions, in practice, not everyone has the right (refer to the preceding point concerning access to health care).

2.6	Prostitution

Some undocumented immigrants fall into prostitution either because it is the only means they have to be able to live, or because they came into Belgium with a passer (network of human trade), and consequently, prostitution is one way  to be able to reimburse. They are also victims of the human traders.  Pimps go look for girls in their countries (Eastern Europe, Black Africa) and dangle in front of their eyes a better life in the West. According to the January 13, 1997 Decree the Belgian authorities accredited three specialised accommodation centres - one in each of the three regions of the country - that they subsidise in order to guarantee adequate accommodation and accompaniment for the victims of human traders. These are the “Payote” association in Flanders, the “Pag-asa” in the Brussels capital region, and “Surya” for the Walloon region. The assistance policy for the victims targets help and accompaniment in Belgium as well as accompaniment for return to the native country. In the context of the April 13, 1995 law (published in the Belgian Monitor on April 24, 1995) containing the arrangements aiming to repress human trade and child pornography, the July 7, 1994 Circular explains the conditions for granting residence permits and work permits for foreigners who are victims of human traders. In fact, by collaborating with the police forces and judicial authorities (entering a complaint or witnessing), it is clearly foreseen, in addition to turning to one of the specialised help centres, the possibility of granting residence permits and authorisations in the work market for the victims. The granting of these documents takes place in three phases and follows the development of the judicial procedures begun at this time. At first, the victim who resides illegally in Belgium is offered  specialised help in a centre. An order to leave the territory to be executed within forty-five days is notified to the person. If the person shows the desire to stay in Belgium and consequently to make declarations concerning the persons or networks of human traders who exploited her, the help centre contacts the Foreigners’ Office to begin the second phrase. During this phase, an arrival declaration valid for three months is delivered. From this time, the Royal Decree of May 13, 1994 stipulates that the victim of human trade can receive social assistance from the competent Public Centre of Social Assistance or through the specialised help centre. In the case that one is faced with a case-file concerning human trade following the victim’s declarations or complaint, the third phase is begun and consists of delivering a residence permit valid for three months (a certificate of inscription in the foreign population registry), renewable until the end of the judicial procedures.

2.7	Family

If the right to live with one’s family is a basic right recognised by international agreements, one is forced to acknowledge that the benefit of this right varies from one country to another and is strongly tied to the legal and administrative context of the person.

In Belgium, only persons having a residence permit in order can have members of the family come to Belgium. In fact, the December 15, 1980 law concerning entry in the territory, stay, settling, and distancing of foreigners establishes this right. For the undocumented immigrants, one cannot speak of family reunification in the meaning of the law, but there may be family reunification in an illegal framework, that is, bringing clandestine parents, children, brothers, etc.

As for the children’s situation, those who are of school age may attend schools. However, associations are often forced to lead steps with some school directors in order for them to accept the children. One can remark here that there is a certain consensus among politicians to be less strict concerning the administrative situation of children.

2.8	Distancing of undocumented immigrants

The distancing from the territory is frequently the method used by the authorities. The means of distancing the undocumented immigrants in Belgium hinges on retention centres for foreigners. Organised by the May 4, 1999 law, the retention centres are where persons who are found in the territory without residence permits are kept in order to expel them. Those who pass through these centres have different migratory paths. It may concern persons refused in the context of their demand to be recognised as a refugee, former students deprived of their residence permit, persons who are a danger for the public order or security, persons refused in the context of family reunification procedures, etc.

These distancings do not always take place in the best of conditions. The death of Semira Adamu, mentioned above, proves this. For several months, many people in the associative circles regularly have organised demonstrations in order to close the retention centres and to attract public attention and that of public authorities to the important role that the respect of human dignity plays in Western democracies. The recent report on immigration and asylum in Belgium by the Senate Interior and Administrative Affairs Commission in March 2000 is entirely of this opinion. In another registry, during the preceding government, a commission responsible for the evaluation of investigations in cases of distancing resulted in the Vermeersch report, and was presented to the Interior Minister on January 21, 1999, in the name of the president of this commission, the Distinguished Professor E. Vermeersch. It is, in fact, from this report that the idea of “distancing” began to be used officially, which some people do not hesitate to qualify as “deportation”. The recommendations in this report on the subject of the distancing policy were to “humanise” the distancings and to use escorted private jets. This study was the object of a lot of criticism from different persons in civilian society. In fact, on the initiative of CIRE (Co-ordination and Initiatives for Refugees and Foreigners) a counter-report to the document filed by the Commission on distancing was drawn up. The study tried to bring into focus the cost of escorted expulsions which are around twenty-five thousand Euros for each expelled person (the use of private jets, the police escort…). It seems that the distancing policy as formulated in the conclusions of the Vermeersch commission is financially costlier for low results in terms of effectiveness in relation to a more open policy of immigration and that they are less secure, leaning on an objective analysis of the factors which are at the origin of human migrations.

2.9 Exclusion of civil and political rights

In general, access to civil and political rights for persons without documents is very limited, because of their particular administrative situation. In fact, in principle they have access to civil rights underlined in article 7 of the civil code which stipulates that the exercise of civil rights is independent  of being a citizen,  which is acquired and kept only in conformity with constitutional law. On the contrary, the foreigner who is staying illegally in Belgium does not have political rights, these matters being constitutionally reserved to limited and well defined categories ( Belgians and to some degree citizens of other countries who are members of the European Union (article 8 of the Belgian Constitution).  However, due to demonstrations and movements of all kinds (petitions, building sit-ins), the undocumented immigrants have brought their case to the public scene, certainly thanks to the support of many Belgian associations and organisms. In this way, they question some basic social values such as the respect of human rights, denounce some practises judged non-conform to some international conventions to which Belgium belongs (The European Convention for the Safeguard of Human Rights), revealed to the common public their existence, their underground exploitation by the parallel economic circuits (undeclared work, forced prostitution, …etc.), the repressive policies of the public authorities in matters of immigration. Even though in an illegal situation, the undocumented immigrants have acted politically and have caused if not radical changes in the direction of political decisions, at least easing of some of the most unrealistic and iniquitous aspects. 

2.10 Education, training

The majority of the actions carried out in this domain are the result of associations and NGO’s. However, some NGO’s which are subsidised by regional or communitary governments can act only thanks to these subsidies, without which training could not take place. There are training programs organised by the FOREM (Walloon Office for Professional Training and Employment) but the undocumented immigrants are excluded because these programs are reserved for job seekers, that is to say, persons who fill a certain number of conditions and have papers.

2.11 Access to information and the possibility to communicate with other people

The undocumented immigrants are rarely aware of the steps they must take to get the information necessary to regularise their situation. The ignorance of the mechanics of administrative services or of certain institutions  that they must address turns out to be an important handicap in the contacts they are called on to make. In addition, these persons live under unending stressful psychological conditions which increase their precarious situation. The circulation of information between the undocumented immigrants varies according to the groups, nationalities, ethnies and communities. In addition, the NGO’s and the associations make with difficulty all this different information available to them.

2.12 Harassment, checks, etc. 

 Other than the undocumented immigrants admitted in the retention centres for foreigners (closed centres), in Belgium there are not any particular problems for free circulation within the national territory for any individual who is there. However, the fact that one is an undocumented immigrant causes restricted mobility, in any case, avoiding places where there are often police checks, or during street demonstrations or gatherings of persons in public places.

3. Public policies with regards to undocumented immigrants

The policies that the Belgian authorities intend to carry out with regard to people without residence permits are situated in a more general context, that of the foreigners found in Belgium. They depend on three closely linked pillars:

1)	A rapid and clear asylum procedure which guarantees the respect of the right to defence;
2)	Distancing measures for all who, at the end of the procedure, find themselves refused the status of refugee or who are illegally found in The Kingdom’s territory;
3)	A procedure of regularisation of the stay, limited in time and permitting regularisation to be done case by case, according to well-defined criteria, for a great number of people in an irregular situation.

The situation of undocumented immigrants comes more specifically under the third point; the second point should in principal be the strict application in case of refusal of regularisation.

3.1 	Regularisation campaigns

The actions of the Belgian authorities are the result of several things. Firstly, the difficulty to face up to the flood of asylum demands which has increased in the last decades in Belgium as well as in other countries in the Schengen Space. Then, the increase in demands favours the build up of an important backlog of files to be treated by the various competent authorities. One can also mention the massive flood of certain specific population groups pushed by serious wars, poverty, all kinds of persecution and the lack of co-ordination between European policies in matters of immigration and asylum. Thousands of persons have been found illegally in the territory and some of them, for many years.

In addition, a backlog of demands for regularisations based exceptionally  on article 9, paragraph 3 of the December 15, 1980 law concerning access to the territory, stay, settling and distancing of foreigners was noticed by the former government (Social-Christians, Socialists). These latter tried to come back on the principle because, in reality, article 9 paragraph 3 simply stipulates that the minister can grant, in exceptional circumstances, a visa allowing a visit for more than three months in Belgium. It did not allude to a particular regularisation, simply the granting of a visa which determines the visit.

In view of the deviation from the legal sense given to this article by the sometimes abusive use of the procedure (for example to avoid the execution of an order to leave the territory), it was judged necessary by the authorities to re-define the limits that one could give to this article. This situation  resulted in  the circular of December 15, 1998 concerning the application of article 9, paragraph 3 of the December 15, 1980 law on the access to the territory, stay, settling and distancing of foreigners and the regularisation of particular situations which well explains the procedure to follow as well as the field of application of article 9 paragraph 3 (explanation of the exceptional circumstances which motivate the demand for a visa in Belgium rather than in another country, and circumstances explaining the imperious reasons to obtain the visa very rapidly).

Besides this clarification, the authorities also made explicit the circumstances and conditions in which a demand for regularisation  of persons who live in Belgium (to be filed individually) could be made. A certain number of cases were thus enumerated: among them, the asylum seekers who must or who have had to wait for a definite decision over an unreasonable length of time (five years for single persons and four years for families with children going to school); persons who because of reasons outside of and independent of their will, cannot follow an order to leave the territory; seriously ill persons; and persons in anguished humanitarian circumstances. This new procedure, which completed the first, established article 9 paragraph 3 mentioned above, was to be more flexible and able to guarantee a certain objectiveness in decision making. 

The use of the circular’s technique allows one to avoid going through parliamentary discussions - in principle, open-debate - and  control of the legislative section of the State Council on matters judged to be extremely delicate. While its existence is worthwhile, the December 15, 1998 circular did not solve all the problems it was supposed to find solutions for (slowness of procedures, discovery of cases not foreseen in the circular, inadequacies between the procedure set up and the increase of demands). It was not sufficient to absorb the enormous backlog of current cases (several thousand case-files). Out of the six hundred and fifty demands for regularisation filed in January 1998, very few had obtained results at the end of the parliamentary term, whether they were positive or negative. Barely one hundred.

As a result of the parliamentary election on June 13, 1999, a new governmental coalition was formed. It is made of French and Flemish liberals (PRL, VLD), ecologists (ECOLO, AGALEV) and socialists (PS,SP). This rainbow coalition made the decision to proceed differently, in trying to clarify as much as possible the criteria to be satisfied in order to rapidly regularise a certain number of persons. The new idea was to proceed with mass regularisation but under individualised and precisely defined criteria. Faced with the urgency of the situation, and in the desire to rapidly put into practice its political decision as shown in the framework of the governmental agreement of July 1999 (called “the voice of the XXI century”), the government acted by declaring a Royal Order on October 6, 1999 (Belgian Monitor on October 10, 1999), determining the criteria to justify the introduction of a demand for regularisation without having to give proof of the exceptional circumstances targeted by article 9 paragraph 3 of the December 15, 1980 law on the access to the territory, the visit, settling, and distancing of foreigners. This text was done in a state of emergency, without the advice of the Parliamentary Section of the State Council.

The Royal Order of October 6, 1999 whose objective was to thoroughly reform the system was suspended by the State Council the day after its publication in the Belgian Monitor with the motive that by presuming certain exceptional circumstances in the cases of the demanders which would allow them to ask for regularisation, the government had modified article 9 of the December 15, 1980 law, and in this way went beyond the powers attributed to it in article 108 of the Constitution. The use of the State Council was formulated by deputies belonging to the far right of the Belgian political chessboard, who were opposed to any measure in favour of immigrants in general.

In the mean time, after having taken all the legal precautions, under pressure of the government, the parliament voted for a law, of December 22, 1999, taking effect on January 10, 2000, date of the beginning of the most recent regularisation operation.

It must be noted that the decision of the Belgian authorities to proceed with the regularisation was made under pressure and as a result of demonstrations by people from different circles. The emergence on the political scene of the situation of the non-rights of undocumented immigrants, the visibility of the difficulties which they face was done, to begin with, thanks to themselves. In fact, they grouped together in many committees  in different provinces and big Belgian cities. The committees of undocumented immigrants are made up of people from several countries, with a majority of citizens from sub-Saharan Africa such as those from The Democratic Republic of the Congo.

By coming out into the open, the undocumented immigrants first called on the public authorities and then on society as a whole. They were rapidly supported by several associations. In April 1998, after having joined together for their actions and demands, the main actors involved in the struggle for the Undocumented immigrants set up national scale co-ordination, and baptised it National Movement for the Regularisation of Undocumented immigrants and Refugees (MNRSPR). Other than representatives from different committees of Undocumented immigrants, two principal organisations have played a major role in its creation: the Co-ordination and Initiatives for Refugees and Foreigners Association and the Platform for Vigilance for the Refugees.

Other than the question of the right to urgent medical care and the wording of a rather lukewarm state of affairs of the immigration and asylum policy of the Belgian State, four major demands were put forward by this co-ordination during a joint press conference on July 14, 1998. The four demands were: a specific measure of across-the-board regularisation for foreigners who have been in Belgium for more than five years (ten years for students); the regularisation of foreigners involved in procedures for more than three years (asylum procedures…); a thorough examination by an independent commission of all the other demands for regularisation (in view of the role of judge and party played by the Foreigners’ Office, the principal administration in these matters); the granting of a status of protection complementary to the Geneva Convention for persons fleeing their country out of fear of persecution. In their strategies of bringing their demands on to the public scene, one must add the respect of fundamental rights for man as established in the international conventions (European Convention for the Safeguard of Human Rights, 1950) such as the right to human dignity. Thus, many persons belonging to different groups in society (religious authorities, unions, universities, higher education, schools, artists, politicians, associations) revolted by the situation of the undocumented immigrants, have given their support to actions in favour of their cause, by their presence, their participation in demonstrations, signing petitions and giving speeches. There are as many reasons as there are actors. As far as the political parties are concerned, the French and Flemish ecologists, and some politicians from other parties acting in their own name, have declared themselves in favour of the ideas defended by MNRSPR. Other French-speaking parties such as the Liberals, Socialists and Social-Christians defend the choice of a case by case regularisation. On the Flemish side, Social-Christians and Socialists have declared themselves in favour of examining each individual case as an exception. The Vlaams Blok, the Flemish far right party, will choose to organise actions to protest against the operation. This will be the case after the beginning of the campaign, especially in Antwerp. 

3.2 	Regularisation Procedures

The first regularisation of foreigners in irregular situations in Belgium dates back to 1974 under the government directed by the Social-Christian Leo Tindemans. A while after the official end of work immigration, hunger strikes carried out by some workers in irregular situations led the authorities to organise this campaign. These demonstrations had the advantage of the active support of the unions. At the time, it concerned a specific regularisation of work. One had to have a job, or at least the promise of one. Out of 8,420 regularisation demands filed between August 1974 and October 1975, 7,448 work permits were granted, or an acceptation rate of 88.4%.

Since this time, the only possibility of regularisation consisted of a foreigner’s use of the article 9 paragraph 3 of the December 15, 1980 law which stipulates that a demand to obtain a residence permit when one is in the territory can not be filed, as mentioned above, except in exceptional circumstances (diseases), because the demand must in theory be filed via Belgian consular mail from the native country, that is to say, before one comes to Belgium. Moreover, many circulars have been sent (in particular that of 1998 and before that 1997) in order to ease the opacity of the criteria on which the Foreigners’ Office makes its decisions.  Following this, a report from the Senate assessed the law on foreigners administrative status which put forward a series of recommendations destined to improve the status of foreigners.  The Council of Ministers of August 4, 1998, then, took several decisions aimed at improving the regularisation policy.  At a consequence was created within the Office of Foreigners a special permanent committee to deal with long time asylum seekers in procedure. A Consultative commission for regularisation was also established. This commission was composed of one representative of the Interior Ministry and one from the CECLR (the Centre for the Equality of Chances and Struggle against Racism) and presided by one magistrate.  The regularisations having followed this new procedure have occurred case by case and according to criteria lacking some precision.

It was not until the rainbow government adopted the December 22, 1999 law that there was a mass operation of regularisation.

The outlines of the new government’s actions on the question of regularisation, begun in the month of January 2000, offered better guarantees to foreigners, because they are presented as a permanent regularisation of protection and can be summarised as follows:

To be able to file a demand for regularisation, the persons must meet two conditions:

1)	Have truly been in Belgium on October 1, 1999;
2)	Belong at the time of the demand to one of the four categories listed in article 2 of the law. These categories are:

a) The foreigner who has asked to be recognised as a refugee who at the end of more  than   four years has not yet received a binding negative decision,  
The foreigner who has demanded, more than four years ago, to be recognised as a refugee and who, at the time of his demand for regularisation, does not yet have a binding decision,
The foreigner being part of a family who have underage children of school age and were living in Belgium on October 1, 1999, who have asked to be recognised as refugees and who have not received at the end of more than three years an binding negative decision,
The foreigner being part of a family who have underage children of school age and who were living in Belgium on October 1, 1999, who asked more than three years ago to be recognised as refugees and who at the time of their demand for regularisation do not yet have a binding decision;
b) The foreigners, who for reasons outside their control cannot return either in their native country, or in the country where they used to live in before their arrival in Belgium, or in the country of their nationality;
c) The foreigners who are seriously ill;
d) The foreigners who can show humanitarian circumstances and who have developed lasting social ties in Belgium.

The demands for regularisation must be filed within three weeks from the day the Royal Decree came into force (January 10, 2000) in the town of the demanders’ residence. They have another month at their disposal to complete their files. This demand is proved by the delivery of an receipt foreseen in article 7 of the law and delivered by the mayor.

It must be noted that the demand for regularisation does not in itself give the right of residence to the demander. His situation of residence is not at all really changed by filing his demand. However, it is foreseen by the law a moratory on the carrying out of possible distancings from the territory, if this is not motivated by national security or public danger, or unless the demand obviously does not meet the regularisation conditions (such as, for example, not being in Belgium on October 1, 1999). The fact of having asked for the regularisation does not change maybe anything the status of the place of residence of the undocumented immigrants, but, at least, we have to note that whom several owners put in the door of such applicants. Legal situation did not maybe change, personal situation sometimes changed dramatically. Officially, 32,662 cases have been filed, which represents nearly 50,000 persons with about 23,000 children. Nearly all continents seem to be represented (see Point 1 of the Introduction).

The regularisation commission is made up of the chambers and a secretariat. There are eight chambers (five French-speaking and three Flemish). Each chamber is composed of three members (article 3 paragraph 1 of the December 22, 1999 law.) There is a magistrate (or a former magistrate or a member, or a former member, of a administrative jurisdiction) who acts as president of the chamber, a lawyer and a representative of a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) recognised in the field of human rights.

The secretariat is made up of two sections: the clerk of the secretariat who is responsible for organising the hearings, and the secretariat of investigation who centralises the demands for regularisation transmitted to the Commission and examines them in accordance with article 12 of the law (where it is foreseen that in case of an incomplete file, it is sent to the minister for his decision, with a negative opinion). The members of the secretariat-clerk do not take part in the chambers’ deliberations. An administrator directs the secretariat, co-ordinates the activities of the clerks of the secretariat and of the secretariat of investigation, and directs and supervises the personnel.

The first President, the Vice-president and the Administrator compose a consulting office on the organisation of the work and the setting up of the files in the context of the application of the law. The office is responsible for establishing a set of rules for the interior order to be submitted for approval to the minister.

The procedure in front of the regularisation commission

The law foresees individual examination of the demands.

In brief, the secretariat is an administration which has the right to investigate the files and to transmit them to the minister for his direct opinion, without necessarily going through the Chambers. Installed only since last May 8, the Chambers will be called upon for the most difficult and problematic cases. The procedure before them is open debate, with all the guarantees to the right for defence. The chambers are independent. They give justified opinions and have the power of interpretation of the law. A specificity of the law is that the chambers must foresee the uniqueness of jurisprudence (Royal Decree January 5, 2000), uniqueness in the treatment of the demand, the necessity to consult the members, and to avoid prior interpretation of the text of the law.

The decision of the minister is sent to the address of the demander by regular mail and by the city police (the decision must be personally notified to the demander).

The chambers of the commission of regularisation are called upon in the following cases:

•	When the secretariat notices that the file is incomplete, it transmits the demand to the minister with a negative opinion. This opinion is then notified to the person concerned (by ordinary mail and by the city police) who has three working days from the notification of the police to make his point of view known to the minister (by registered letter). If the minister agrees to dismiss the negative opinion, he calls on the chamber of the commission, who, after a open debate, hands down its new opinion, which will again be transmitted to the minister for his decision.
•	When the secretariat notices that the file attached to the demand is complete but that  it includes things which could lead to dispute, it calls on the chamber of the commission who, after a procedure with open debate, hands down an opinion  which it transmits to the minister for a decision.
•	When the secretariat notices that the file is complete but that at first glance it does not seem that this can give rise to a favourable opinion, a chamber is called upon, with an open debate procedure.
•	When the secretariat notices that the file is complete and at first glance it seems that the demand could give rise to a favourable opinion, it transmits it to the minister for decision with a favourable opinion. If the minister wants to dismiss this opinion, he calls on the chamber of the commission who after an open debate hands down a new opinion, to be transmitted to the minister for a new decision.

The demander (who is invited to appear at least ten days before the day of the hearing) can be assisted by a lawyer that he chooses or by a lawyer assigned by the legal aid office, or by another person. The file may be examined by the members of the chamber, the demander and the lawyer as of the eighth working days before the day of the hearing. The non-justifiable absence of the demander to the summons of the commission will automatically lead to a negative decision.

The decision will be sent to the demander by ordinary mail and by the city police.

At this time, there seem to be problems in collaborating between the two sides of this commission (secretariat and chamber).

At present, only the case files of demands for regularisation according to the third category (seriously ill persons) are being dealt with. They have resulted in a few regularisation (twenty-some according to the data made public). In the beginning, the government considered that all the files would be treated in one year but it seems more and more clearly that many of them will not be treated until 2001, at least if factors such as tensions which undermine the good development of the tasks allotted to the commission do not disappear. 

3.3 	Problems of the regularisation campaign 

In order to avoid what some call “whistling in the wind”  which could be generated by the regularisation campaign, the Belgian government has considerably re-enforced its border checks. Belgium used  the Schengen agreements which authorise its members to remove the obligations, by re-imposing the checks at the borders, for short periods if they refer to special circumstances. The decision to re-introduce border checks was to avoid having criminal organisations take advantage of the vast regularisation operation for foreigners in an irregular situation to get clandestine immigrants to enter Belgium by promising them  papers in order.

The short period (three weeks) left to regularisation demanders to introduce their case-file caused a flood in the towns and mainly for those who tried to come to their aid,  particularly by opening their offices on Saturdays and Sundays. Some demands filed in the towns proved to be incomplete; moreover, the towns did not have time to make recalls, even if the law foresaw that after the expiration date for registration of the files, the demanders had one month to bring complementary information considered useful.

During the regularisation campaign the Interior Minister sent re-enforcement teams to the towns. These proved to be, as observed by some town authorities, inadequate. Questions of ignorance of the matter to be treated were raised.

Some problems faced by the persons making up the commission added to these difficulties. Since the beginning of its activities, the commission has had to reproach the towns for not having checked if the case-files were complete before sending them.

3.4 	Conclusion

Following the example of its neighbour countries, the question of the undocumented immigrants was first brought to light on the public scene in Belgium by the undocumented immigrants themselves. Their lot aroused the commitment to different degrees of numerous persons, professional groups from many sides among them the NGO’s and associations.

As Marco Martiniello rightly emphasised, “the question of regularisation was vital, beyond that of case by case regularisations. However, the questions forces one to a reflect deeply on the immigration policy in Europe. As immigration has never stopped and will continue, a proactive policy of immigration is needed”. In fact, the immigration and asylum policies carried out in most of the European countries for the last fifteen years have been marked by incoherence and the lack of prospective vision. The national legislation act on the matter according to current political interests and needs. 

Moreover, in light of the regularisation operations which have taken place in some countries of the European Union, one wonders if resorting to this formula is related to a new policy of immigration or if it is a policy of fait accompli (consisting of transforming the presence of persons without administrative and legal status on the territory into rightful subjects).  We lean more towards the second answer, because at the present time, the government does not intend to make this regularisation operation a first step towards structural regularisations.  

4. Services provided by NGO’s 
             
4.1 The legal and political context 

In general, even if each organisation has its own social target and is turned toward specific interests, it is important to note that the NGOs’ actions in support of the undocumented immigrants is bigger than the self-organisation of the undocumented immigrants themselves. The Non-Governmental Organisations intervened at a time when evidence of violence come to light during measures of forced distancing from the territory. This situation has existed for several years and has recently been put under the spotlight of the mass media following the death of Semira. Strong criticism was made such as that of the “Belgian Cockpit Association”. In fact, as of July 12, 1999, it asked its members to systematically refuse all repatriations of escorted “deportees”. This led the authorities to declare a moratorium on forced deportations. 

On another side, coming to the assistance of persons without documents or residence is not done without posing problems. Article 77, clause 1 of the December 15, 1980 law on territorial access states that “anyone who knowingly helps or assists a foreigner either in the acts which prepared his illegal entry or his illegal stay in the Kingdom or who eased them, or in the acts in which they consummated, is punished by eight days to three months in prison and a fine of twenty-six to two hundred francs or only one of these penalties”.

However, this legislation was recently modified by the April 29, 1999 law (The Belgian Monitor June 16, 1999), modifying article 77, clause 2 of the December 15 Law on territorial access, stays, settling and distancing of foreigners. Article 2, clause 2 says that the preceding clause does not apply if the aid or assistance is offered to the foreigner for principally humanitarian reasons. It remains to be precised what can be considered or not to be humanitarian reasons.

4.2 Principal NGOs for the support of undocumented immigrants

Non Gouvernemental Organisations	Activity Sectors	Targetted Groups	
1.	APD (Help for Displaced Persons) 	Refugee Welcome
Scholastic Support	Firstly, the refugees, then immigrants and undocumented immigrants	
2.	CIRE (Co-0rdination and Initiatives for Refugees and Foreigners)	Accommodation
Training
Pressure Movement	Refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented immigrants, and new arrivals	
3.	SMZP (Steunpunt Mensen Zonder Papieren)	Accompaniment in all areas	Undocumented immigrants	
4.	LDH (League of Human Rights)	Political Lobbying 	No target group	
5.	CECLR (Centre for Equal Opportunity and the Struggle against Racism)	Welcome and psychological and/or legal support
Making Proposals	Victims of Racial Discrimination	
6.	MSF (Doctors Without Borders)	Medical Visits
Emercency Medical Help	Illegals 	
7.	OCIV (Het Overlegcentrum voor Integratie van Vluchtelingen)	Legal Support
Accompaniment
Training
Welcome	First, asylum seekers during procedures and recognised refugees then illegals and undocumented immigrants	
8.	MRAX
(Movement against Racism, Antisemitism and Xenophobia)	Social Services 
Complaints Office
Training
Lobbying	Illegals and undocumented immigrants
Victims of Discrimination, School classes, groups	
9.	Caritas International Rescue	Accommodation
Aid to persons in distress	Asylum seekers, former asylum seekers who are refused, illegals, undocumented immigrants	
10.	MOC (Christian Workers Movement) 	Pressure Movement	Firstly, the workers	
11.	Point d’Appui 	Accompaniment	Asylum Seekers, foreigners, undocumented immigrants	
12.	ADDE
(Association for Foreigners’ Rights)	Legal Consultation

Training	Asylum Seekers, Foreigners, undocumented immigrants 
Field workers (lawyers, etc.)	
13.	Red Cross 	Food help
Welcome	Asylum Seekers in procedures	

As all of these organisations do not have the same legal status, their status has an influence on the field and extent of their activities, the way they work, the pertinence and results of their operations. In the same way, the size and the make up of these organisations are tied to their legal nature. The majority of these organisations work under the status of non-profit organisations (ASBL), one being the public institution (CECLR) and the other an association of fact (MOC). The relationships of these organisations with the political environment and the political decision-makers are diversified and vary according to their activities and their status. 

Most of the organisations work in networks. These are in the civil sector as well as those of public authorities at different levels. The directors of the organisations are in fact skilled in the principle “the union is the force”. In addition, even if the associations act in the same activity sector, they insist that they do not compete with each other. They emphasise that there is enough room for everyone, each being able to act in function of their objectives and their own specificity. However, in practice, this is not always  the reality, especially when one knows that, in general, the associations must fight to survive, at least financially. During the period before the setting up of the regularisation campaign, rivalries took place between organisations on one side, and organisations and committees for undocumented immigrants on the other. These rivalries concerned the attitude that the undocumented immigrants should have vis-à-vis the public authorities, the interpretation of conditions to satisfy in the context of the regularisation operation as it was officially formulated, and on the orders and demands to be put forward in the context of national co-ordination and support organisations. This was also the case during the rare meetings between representatives of committees of undocumented immigrants and members of associations on one side and, on the other side, federal civil servants (federal and regional negotiators), collaborators of the Interior Minister and some politicians.

It must be noted that even if most of the organisations claim to be apolitical, they are tainted with ideological beliefs which are sometimes at the root of eventual conflicts of interest which come out in their interaction.

It is clear that the financial problems are unfortunately recurrent in the life of the associations, in any case, those which are not public. The majority of them receive subsidies from the French and Flemish communities, the Walloon region, the federal government, different foundations or even -but rarely - the European Union. The problem is that, on one side, the subsidies are never very big, and on the other, the majority of these subsidies are non-recurrent . Thus, the associations are financed through special projects and specific activities and not for the work of the association (infrastructure, material, …). This means that from one year to another, the associations cannot count on the same sum of money; in fact the funds depend on the projects proposed to the different subsidising organisations and only if the projects are accepted. If the associations could manage to get a few recurrent consequential subsidies, their daily life would be greatly eased.

However, the financing of many of the salaries of permanent workers is charged, at least in part, to public authorities (the Walloon region, ORBEM (Brussels Regional Office of Employment), the French community especially with ACS contracts (Subsidised Contractual Agents) for example or PRIME contracts (Regional Projects and Insertion into the Work Market). However, this responsibility implies some inconveniences such as the respect of certain procedures or criteria for hiring personnel; not everyone can be hired (obligation with respect to length of unemployment to be respected, for example).

Other than financing through subsidies, it seems clear that the associations must be able to count on other sources of finance. They usually set up specific activities to collect funds throughout the year. Beyond the direct appeals for funds practised by some of them, numerous suppers, evening events, concerts, … are organised. Finally, other than their direct activities, some associations have financial income which allows them in part to finance themselves; these activities are , for example, magazine publications, organising training and seminars, dues,…

For these organisations, the fact of having financial room to breathe would allow them to realise many projects concerning the undocumented immigrants, especially for accommodation (which is a crucial problem).

Generally, the associations do not have only the undocumented immigrants as a target group, their primary interest group often being made up of asylum seekers, recognised refugees and other foreigners. It was only with the birth of the National Movement for Regularisation of Undocumented immigrants and Refugees that the undocumented immigrants have become a real part of the target groups of these associations. In truth, before the regularisation campaign, few associations carried out concrete and privileged actions in favour of the undocumented immigrants, many of them have joined the national movement for the regularisation of undocumented immigrants and refugees after or at this time. Other than sporadic support during the street demonstrations, most of the organisations did not act concretely until the launching of the regularisation campaign.

The most important action carried out by the associations in regard to the undocumented immigrants has been the legal and social offices trying to help people make their regularisation files as complete as possible. Some associations have closely collaborated in the development of the regularisation law, in any case during the prior consultations the Interior Minister held with some well-known NGO’s active in the field of human rights or during the hearings in front of the parliament. Among the organisations consulted, one can mention the CIRE, the LDH, the ADDE, the Red Cross, Caritas Secours International, OCIV and Steunpunt. Today, they all claim to be vigilant as to the regularisation procedure taking place, they follow it closely - which is relatively easy given that the majority of them have representatives in the regularisation commission - and are hoping that most of the cases filed will be accepted and regularised.

In addition, they all hope that this first regularisation campaign will not be specific and “just a drop in the ocean”. They hope that this first campaign will be the first step towards a structural and permanent regularisation of persons in irregular situations. They also hope that the debate about immigration will be able to continue and that the government will view the policy of immigration in a global and realistic manner.

At the level of Belgian policies in matters of immigration and asylum a difference of opinion exists between the governmental authorities (represented by the Minister of the Interior or his close collaborators) and some organisations in civilian society. To synthesise to the extreme, the first intend to carry out a deterrent policy with the will to be firm and humanistic. As for the latter, they seem to be in favour of a more open immigration and asylum policy which takes into account the evolution of migratory flows at the international level, of the socio-political situation of the countries who export migrants as well as the diversity of causes and migratory movements.

4.3 	Detailed analysis of the work and experience of the NGO’s

4.3.1. Assistance to Displaced Persons (APD)

The APD is an ASBL (non-profit organisation) which was founded in 1949. It has two kinds of activities: welcoming refugees in Belgium for one and scholastic support for children of refugees, displaced persons and political prisoners for another. The people who come to APD are mostly foreigners, the majority being asylum seekers, but the APD also helps immigrants, undocumented immigrants and foreign students when asked. As for welcoming refugees, the APD informs them as much as possible about the procedure to follow for asylum (the different steps to take, the deadlines, the possibilities they may have, etc.), it intervenes in the procedure by helping the persons fill in the questionnaires, write their demands or prepare interviews. It also takes care of all the additional administrative problems such as extending town documents, family allowances, getting social assistance. It also offers psychological support  to people by listening to them tell about their situations. Finally, the APD publishes a quarterly “Yesterday’s Refugees , Today’s Refugees” which informs donators, sympathisers, and volunteers about its activities and points of view. 

Concerning the undocumented immigrants in particular, the APD has been  associated since the beginning with the MNRSPR (it was a member of the Platform for Vigilance for the Refugees and Undocumented immigrants, which became part of the National Movement) and concretely participated in the regularisation campaign by helping people file their demand. It also plans to accompany some people in the commissions. In addition, one of its members is a part of the regularisation commission. Finally, social assistants of the APD regularly visit the closed centres in order to help the persons who are interned during the different steps of the process but also to observe how the centres work (it thinks that it is dangerous to have a structure so tightly closed where there is little observation from the outside).

The framework of the APD is made up of twenty-some persons of who five are full time social assistants, there are also administrative personnel and people in charge of the organisation’s finances. At this time, one of the workers comes from a country outside the European Union.

The financial resources of the APD are different. The Walloon Region intervenes partially for the salaries of three full time social assistants (the other two are PRIME contracts). It grants a small recurrent subsidy  (between 6,200 and 8,700 Euros for organising French language courses). Sometimes for occasional activities, the APD receives a subsidy. For the rest, the association benefits from gifts from sympathisers and also organises activities such as flea markets and dinners, etc.

The APD is a member of different co-ordinating groups (the Belgian committee of help for refugees (CBAR), CIRE, the platform for foreign refugees, the regional centres for integration of foreign refugees or of foreign origin, etc.). There are also temporary collaborations in function of the need. It also operates networks. 

As for the problems which the APD faces, they are mostly of the structural kind for finances and subventions (difficulties in getting donations because the association’s target public is not very popular). There is also the fact that as the laws become more and more restrictive toward asylum seekers, the APD comes up against a great number of administrative and legal obstacles. Finally, another problem concerns the integration of people and the population’s hostility toward the foreigners, so the APD has many problems to help people find housing for example. 

Finally, as for recommendations and demands, the APD would like immigration to be seen differently and that the confusion between asylum and immigration, to the detriment of the refugee status as defined by the Geneva Convention, would no longer be a problem. However, one good thing is that the debate (about immigration) has been imposed on the public opinion because, before, it was very difficult to speak positively about refugees.

4.3.2. CIRE (Co-ordination and Initiatives for Foreign Refugees)

CIRE is a co-ordination of nineteen French-speaking organisations who take care of sensitising the public about the problems of refugees and foreigners either in their welcome or in their rights. CIRE is a non-profit organisation and was created in 1954 to welcome people deported from the camps in Germany after the Second World War. At the beginning, CIRE was called Centre of Initiation for Foreign Refugees and was a school to teach French. It was in the beginning of the nineties that it adopted its present name and became an organisation to lead pressure actions and sensitisation of the public opinion. 

Between two thousand and fifteen thousand people call on CIRE’s services every year who sometimes re-direct them toward the member organisations. The public is mostly made up of asylum seekers, refugees, undocumented immigrants and first-arrivals. All age categories are represented (from 18 to 65 years old) as well as about seventy nations. 

In addition to its role of co-ordination, it has its own services and activity sectors. It has several fields of intervention. It has a welcome and integration department which takes care of everything that concerns accommodation. It was recognised as an accommodation centre by the State and manages three hundred beds and also has funds to use for rent guarantees. A second important activity sector of CIRE is that of training. It has a training centre in Brussels and gives training in French, computer skills, cultural awareness of Belgium but also manages the assistance programs for job hunting, professional integration programs or even programs about housing management. CIRE also acts in the domain of international intervention with projects to prevent migrations in some countries and with projects for the return of refused asylum seekers in their countries or in other countries. Finally, CIRE is mostly an movement for lobbying and sensitising public opinion.

As far as the undocumented immigrants are directly concerned, CIRE was one of the pioneers in the origin and creation of MNRSPR. It  accompanied the church sit-ins, demonstrations and petitions. Because of its experience in the domain of foreigners’ rights and others, CIRE participated in the  context of the ministerial consultations  in the discussions about the criteria for regularisation and currently is keeping an eye on  the follow-up of the regularisation campaign. In addition, it the founder of  a training program specifically for undocumented immigrants who have requested to be regularised, the start up is foreseen for next September; it is agreed that when they are regularised , these people will be able to  work without a work permit. The content of the programs is the same as those mentioned earlier (assistance in job search, professional integration, etc.).

These services are given by forty-four employees of whom there are fifteen interpreters and thirty-some official and administrative staff who work in different sectors; some of them are immigrants but only from Europe. The leaders say that the choice to not hire immigrants from outside of Europe was made because, in the past, this caused the exclusion of nationalities not represented by one of the employees. There are also volunteers in CIRE’s personnel.

The greatest part of CIRE’s budget (90%) is guaranteed by occasional subsidies from public authorities at all levels (regional, town, European), which is a problem because CIRE has very little structural subsidies - only 5% of the budget. CIRE organises specific collections of funds; a call for donations was launched to support the undocumented immigrants movement. Finally, in 1996, in the context of its sensitisation campaigns, it put on an interactive exhibition in Brussels using role play to illustrate the theme “Without an invitation? A voyage like the others”; the objective being to retrace the route of an exiled person in order to live the person’s life, to exchange identities by taking the place of the exiled person, to understand the reasons which pushed him to leave, the problems with which he is faced in the country of so called “welcome” during the administrative steps, etc.  After Brussels, this exhibition went on tour to Rome, Paris, Frankfort, Hamburg and Luxembourg where it ended on June 30. It will be set up again in Rotterdam in 2001 in the context of the Rotterdam Cultural Capital. CIRE has benefited from the effects of this exhibition.

CIRE is in constant contact with journalists specialised in matters of refugees and asylum seekers. It maintains relations with a series of experts and European NGO’s. It is considered to be a spokesperson for the program of integration of regularised persons in the Walloon Region. 

The biggest problem faced by CIRE is financial because its services are recurrent but its finances are only given for specific programs, but it also needs finances to function on a regular basis. In addition, the rapid growth rate of CIRE poses a problem for its financial viability and treasury.

As for CIRE’s demands, one of its requirements in relation to the public authorities is to be able to debate and open new immigration policy (it is worthless to elaborate a reform of the procedure for asylum seekers if it is not in the context of a new immigration policy.). As for the other associations, it is to make them understand that social action is not only social assistance but also political and collective action. The undocumented immigrants movement and the regularisation campaign show that a collective movement which goes to the end can solve problems in a structured way.

Finally, one of CIRE’s objectives is to structure the groups created by the undocumented immigrants, foreigners themselves and that, in two or three years, the groups could relay with CIRE and have their place inside the co-ordination, which is the whole point of CIRE.

4.3.3. Steunpunt Mensen Zonder Papieren (SMZP)

Steunpunt is a non-profit organisation which helps volunteers or professionals who work with undocumented immigrants of all kinds, no matter what their migratory history. The objective of the association is to promote human rights for these groups. It was founded in answer to the question “what is the kind of organisation which can answer to the needs and demands of undocumented immigrants?“. It offers to accompany undocumented immigrants who ask for their help in their administrative steps. It does not do the work in their place (the objective being to show that solidarity exists between people without papers and those with papers). For one thing, Steunpunt welcomes undocumented immigrants and tries to answer their different questions (request for accompaniment, legal advice, demands linked to humanitarian questions (housing, health, children’s education,…), requests for accompaniment to find work on the informal market, questions about income, etc.) and for another thing, it offers support and strategy for volunteers or professionals in their work of accompaniment. Steunpunt is the Flemish equivalent of Point d’Appui.

Steunpunt has written a guide about the rights of undocumented immigrants with 150 questions (such as, can a undocumented immigrants have a contract,…) In this way, the association shows that the undocumented immigrants are citizens who have rights and who must be respected. It has also set up a housing project in order to have a welcome house which is always ready to open its doors to undocumented immigrants. The Federation of Welcome Houses in Flanders has taken over the project, with plans to follow-up the action with Steunpunt so that there may be a change in legal texts and funds to guarantee housing for undocumented immigrants who are in need.  Finally, Steunpunt tries to sensitise the medical world in order that it does not hesitate to help the undocumented immigrants. The association thinks that it has directly contributed to changes in the laws, which now guarantee urgent medical care for persons who are without residence permits. In the field of access to medical care, the association’s action are mostly concentrated in the Brussels-capital Region.

As soon as the law was clarified, Steunpunt sent a newsletter with explanations about the regularisation campaign to all the people who had previously called the association. It has also helped people who wanted to constitute a case-file. Currently, it is trying to get people to keep in contact with the commission in order to exchange information. 

Eight persons are employed by the association (none are immigrants). Some of them have been taken on by the new Flemish centre for integration of migrants, the Vlaams Centrum voor Integratie van Migranten (VCIM). This situation illustrates the ties that exist between the public authorities and the associative sector. As mentioned above, the associative sector working in the field of migrant integration was consulted in view of adopting the decree of the Flemish community in relation to Flemish policy towards ethno-cultural minorities. This text seems to have taken into account the requests formulated over the last years by the associative milieu, especially the inclusion of persons in illegal situations in the public target as proposed by Steunpunt at the time.

In the beginning, Steunpunt worked by collecting funds but it quickly received subsidies from the Flemish Community, the Dutch-speaking Community Commission of Brussels (VGC), the Eastern Flemish province and the Flemish Community Health Cabinet. Today, 80% of its budget is made up of subsidies and 20% from donations.

The association is faced with problems of subsidisation. In addition, it reproaches the federal authorities with acting badly towards the NGOs often treated with mistrust. There is also a certain feeling of frustration because the persons who ask for assistance are sometimes in hopeless situations. And what lacks, in Steunpunt’s opinion, to give them hope are instruments such as the regularisation campaign which is very important in their opinion. This is why, the association militates so that a system of permanent regularisation will be included in the law. 

Steunpunt has two representatives in the chambers of the regularisation commission. It works with many partners (other associations, journalists, authorities) in function of its needs and its projects. 

One of the present priorities of Steunpunt is to regulate expulsion policy because the flip side of the coin of the regularisation campaign is distancing from the territory and expulsion. It would also like to get the message across that accessibility to medical care must be assured for minors even if they do not have papers. In the same way, it is important to separate human rights from residence permits (to be able to supply basic rights to persons without the need to show their identity card). Finally, the association intends to carry out sensitisation campaigns to demystify migration as the problem rather than a means of development. To promote the idea of migration - development aid which would show another image of the migrants’ presence in Belgium. The direction of its future activities might take another turn, because, in collaboration with other structures, Steunpunt has just created a European Co-ordination of Associations for assistance to Undocumented immigrants, named PICUM (Platform for International Co-operation for Undocumented immigrants).

4.3.4. The League for Human Rights (LDH)

The League of Human Rights is a non-profit organisation which keeps watch on the respect of fundamental human rights. It intervenes in the most diversified domains, such as the right of foreigners but also in that which concerns all civil and political, economic, social and cultural rights. The League is not a service of direct assistance to persons but rather a vast organisation of political lobbying on various legislative issues and recommendations piled up by different governments. It goes to meet cabinet members, ministers, and parliament members to attract their attention to the compatibility of projects that they want to set up (or which are already done) with instruments which protect fundamental human rights. In parallel to its lobbying activities, the League also tries to promote fundamental human rights through training programs. 

It actively participated in many consultations which led to the adoption of the law for regularisation. It refused to participate in the regularisation commission for at least two major reasons: it considers, for one thing, that the criteria of regularisation are not clear enough and for another thing, that the aforementioned commission of regularisation as it has been set up is not, in their opinion, endowed with real guarantees for independence from the organisation point of view, in its future workings as well as from the decisional point of view. Because, in the end, it is the politician (in this case, the competent minister) who decides whether or not to grant the residence permit.

The work team of the League is made up of six permanent employees, some of them immigrants, but they have not been hired as such, as emphasised by one of the association leaders. Other than this framework, the League has many militant members.

The financing of the League is a problem. It does not find structural solutions to its financial problems. It sometimes receives a subsidy for different projects from the authorities. The problem faced by the Leagues is that it has an image which is difficult to define, the daily work done by its members (examining texts, meetings,…) is not “sellable” and thus the problem to gather financial resources.

The League works with many partners. It is a member of many federations, co-ordinations, platforms such as the vigilance for refugees and undocumented immigrants, etc. It maintains privileged contacts with many organisations. The mass media is indispensable in accomplishing its task.

Beyond its enormous financial problems, the League must face a problem to get its message across which is often contrary to public opinion. Also, it often has the impression that things do not move, thus, one must believe in the theory of “one drop in the ocean”. It would like to see a real awakening of the population which sometimes seems to be too sleepy, and that there will be a real awareness of the problems of each individual.

In spite of the financial problems that most of the associations have on to solve, the League hopes to continue its actions. In the case that a financial problem threatens its existence, it would choose to become a purely militant associations.

4.3.5. The Centre for the Equality of Chance and the Struggle against Racism (CECLR)

The Centre for the Equality of Chance and the Struggle against Racism is a public institution created in 1993 whose legal mission is to fight all forms of discrimination based on the origins, race, and/or nationality, thus against all kinds of racial discrimination. It is attached to the service of the Prime Minister, in the framework of the Inter-ministerial Conference of Immigrant Policies (CIPI). The activity field of the CECLR is two-fold. On one side, it welcomes and supports - psychologically but also by actions in justice - the victims of racial discrimination, and, on the other side, to make associations and public authorities appreciate all the recommendations, opinions, suggestions, or proposals in matters of the struggle against racism and for better participation in Belgian society of foreign persons or persons with foreign origins. It is important to notice that the government has decided to extend the competencies of the Centre in a few months. To respond to the first objective, the Centre has legal and social help centres where people can discuss their problems of discrimination, family reunification, naturalisation, or even regularisation. In matters of recommendations, the Centre plays a role of intermediary between the civilian and political society by grouping actors in a specific field around a table. In addition, the Centre manages the secretariat of the Funds for Influencing Immigrant Policies (FIPI) as well as budgetary follow-up and evaluation of the projects.

The question of regularising the undocumented immigrants was already posed by the Centre in 1997, when this was a problem completely ignored in Belgium. During the regularisation campaign for undocumented immigrants, the Centre organised information meetings about the campaign. Seeing that the social services were extremely overloaded in relation to the number of demands, the Centre opened an office where hundreds of persons came. It has also set up a Call Centre that people were able to contact during the entire regularisation campaign in order to get information.

The framework of the Centre is made up of about sixty-five people of whom nearly 30 to 40% are of foreign origin or foreigners. The Centre decided to no longer work with volunteers because there was discrimination between the volunteers and the salaried persons. 

The financial sources of the Centre are exclusively public. The Centre receives a financial endowment from the Prime Minister which is completed by subsidies for certain specific projects (the subsidies can be paid in kind).

The Centre is an open service for all persons (associations, concerned public authorities, universities, etc.). The role played by mass media is essential. Sensitisation projects with the mass media are set up. In addition, the mass media turn to the Centre for its comments on an event or a political happening.

In relation to the Centre’s problems, it is not the financial or technical problems which are the greatest. One of the wishes is to better sensitise and influence people who are the hard core of the racists. It thinks about the best way to reach these people because at the level of public authority, the action led by the centre has born its fruit. 

Concerning its recommendations vis-à-vis politics, the Centre would like to make all governments understand that it is necessary to take a long term political view in managing fields such as that of immigration and  the right to asylum, by thoroughly analysing the endogenous and exogenous factors which are at the root of the increase in human mobility.   

4.3.6. Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

Doctors Without Borders is a non-profit organisation which has many activities. First of all, there is the health aspect which is the consultation programs - access to care. Thus, MSF holds consultations and tries that people have access to care. On another side, MSF defends the rights of people who are involved in asylum procedures and who have the right to health care, as well as the right to emergency medical assistance for illegal immigrants. Another activity sector of MSF is the public opinion aspect: in this context it organises newsworthy actions, by trying to sensitise the public to some problems. They have also called on teams on-site to know what has happened to people who were expelled from Belgium. In the course of its daily work, MSF tries to come up with possible solutions and to send them on to the government, and more official structures. Thus, the objective is not to take the place of the structures but to stimulate them so that they take charge of the actions.

In the context of the regularisation procedures, through its Consultation Centre, MSF has sometimes asked its field workers for information about the possibilities of treatment (of disease) in the native country - there were thirty-some demands over a few weeks during the inscription of regularisation case-files in the beginning of the year 2000.    

MSF was threatened by the Vlaams Blok when they opened an emergency welcome centre for clandestine immigrants in Ostende.

The target public of MSF is made up of all people who have problems to get care, either persons staying illegally who do not have the right to health care (44% of its public are illegals who have never asked for asylum, and 15% are persons refused in asylum procedures). They are mostly young men from Africa (Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa) and Eastern Europe; a consensus was obtained in the hospitals to treat children without asking too many questions about their situation.

Even if the association often manages to find solutions, people in illegal situations must take many steps to be treated. In view of the slowness of the procedure (the road is long and filled with obstacles), the illegals do not always dare to go to the competent administration for fear of being arrested. 

The salaried personnel is made up of about ten people (mission chief, doctors, social assistants, psychologists, etc.) of whom one is not European and there are also many volunteers (receptionists during the consultations, doctors, etc.)

In the financial chapter, the association receives a subsidy from the French Community (12,400 Euros) out of a total budget in the neighbourhood of 496,000 Euros (non specified private funds). The private funds are mostly private donations and some occasional activities (few campaigns are directed toward MSF projects in Belgium, they are mostly directed toward MSF activities in foreign countries or toward the MSF image in general). Thus, MSF depends on MSF International of which it is a mission.

There is a lot of funding work (lobbying toward institutions to obtain better access to care,…) which is done without publicity but on the other side, there are lightening actions where publicity is very important.

One of the problems of MSF is that the association deals with a problem (access to health care for the illegals) which is not well-known and is badly perceived by the public. In addition, Belgium is an administrative country where everything is very slow at the administrative level; even when health care is possible, the procedures are often very long and slow. Thus it must be less bureaucratic. Given that the consultation centres depend on MSF Belgium, there are sufficient means. Finally, there is a feeling of frustration to see that problems, which would be basically relatively easy to solve, are made complicated and take a long time.

MSF would like the public opinion to be more objectively informed about human migrations, the reasons and the risks which go along with them. In order to take the heat out of the debate about immigration, the association invites the public authorities to look at this question from a global point of view. Finally, it is in favour of simplifying all administrative procedures at all levels of power in Belgium.

4.3.7. OCIV (Het Overlegcentrum voor Integratie van Vluchtelingen)

The Centre for Reflection on the Integration of Refugees, abbreviated OCIV, is a non-profit organisation created in 1987 which regroups the traditional NGOs work work for refugees in Flanders. Thus it is a pluralist platform which is active in welcoming asylum seekers and accompanying and integrating the refugees. OCIV is the equivalent of CIRE in the French-speaking part of the country. The public of the association is composed primarily of asylum seekers involved in procedures and recognised refugees but it also takes care of persons who have been refused asylum, thus undocumented immigrants. The Centre does political work linked to the rights of refugees’, asylum seekers and refused ex-asylum seekers. Another part of its work is legal support for these groups (legal and administrative problems). Currently, three projects are being carried out and directly concern the situation of asylum seekers. The first project  (financed by the Minister of Social Integration) is a project of accommodation and accompaniment of asylum seekers. They are housed (it can accommodate 500 persons) and accompanied in the different steps (drawing up case-files for their demands, research for concrete information concerning the country of origin in the perspective of the request for asylum,…); social and psychological accompaniment is also available. The second project (financed by the Flemish Community and the European Union) concerns recognised refugees and helps them in the context of their socio-professional integration. The last project is for the return and integration of persons who do not have the possibility to remain legally in Belgium and who “have decided” themselves to return to their native country.

The team of this non-profit organisation is made up of fifteen persons (lawyers, social assistants,…) of whom several are immigrants (European or non-European). There are no volunteers. 

A large part of the finances of the OCIV comes from subsidies from the federal government, the Flemish government and the European Union.

The OCIV works in a network with a number of NGO’s. At the European level, it assumes the secretariat of a network for a integration project (“European Task Force of Integration”).

It often calls on the media to divulge its points of view, in most cases through press conferences. 

Nevertheless, The Centre is sometimes frustrated, especially in political work where it does not manage to impose its ideas or get them accepted. This could be explained by the fact that the Centre depends financially on different public authorities. On another side, realisation of the projects seems to be influenced by the political direction defined beforehand by the subsidising authorities. In the Centre’s opinion, they would like to solidify many projects but the money is not granted or at least not sufficiently. With greater means, its actions could multiply and the association could attract more competent persons.

In relation to the problem of undocumented immigrants and regularisation, the Centre watches that the measures are really carried out in practice so that the regularised persons get the right to work. It also asks questions about what will happen to the persons who did not enter a case-file for regularisation or who entered the country after October 1, 1999. The other haunting question is to know what will happen to the policies on these themes in the future.

4.3.8. The Movement Against Racism, anti-Semitism and Xenophobia (MRAX)

The MRAX is a non-profit organisation created in 1975 whose actions are mostly concerned with the struggle against racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia. These actions are part of the defence of foreigners’ rights. MRAX manages a social service, a welcome service specialised in foreigners’ rights where people come to consult them about questions of residence, naturalisation, regularisation, etc. (for the traditional social services, people are directed toward other organisations). The second important service of the movement is a complaint office where victims of discriminatory or racist treatment can come. The MRAX also has a legal section which studies and analyses all texts, rules, decrees and laws concerning the foreigners. It distributes an information bulletin (ten times a year) which assures the link between the movement and its members. MRAX also manages a small document centre focused on the problem of immigration and foreigners. Finally the MRAX team includes two trainers/animators who, at the request of schools or groups, organises interactive performances about racism, immigration and foreigners. In addition to all this, they do a lot of lobbying of public authorities at all levels.

The public of MRAX differs in function to the different services offered. In the complaint office, it is often young people (from Turkey or Morocco and sometimes Africa) who are victims, for example, of racist behaviour by the police. The trainers go into all kinds of schools but they also work with groups (groups of low-income women, unemployed persons, etc.). Concerning social services, those who turn to them are made up of first generation immigrants but the present day public is made up many more people who are not in order with their residence permits, thus, illegals and undocumented immigrants, who come to get help to regularise their situation.

During the regularisation campaign, more than one hundred undocumented immigrants came to MRAX to ask for advice (MRAX discouraged those who did not meet the conditions to satisfy the criteria). As a recognised non-governmental organisation, MRAX applied to be on the regularisation commission. Two members were chosen.

Thirteen persons are currently paid by MRAX (trainers/animators, lawyer, social assistants, reporter and administrators) of whom several are immigrants (European and non-European). Other than this framework, the movement counts on volunteers who come to help with some of MRAX’s activities. 

As for its financial means, most of the personnel expenses (except for half of the animators) is paid by the public authorities (the French Community for one animator, ORBEM for the others who have an ACS status). MRAX is also subsidised as a permanent education organisation by the French community. It also has a recurrent subsidy from the COCOF (French Community Council of the Brussels-capital region) Finally, it receives dues from its members as well as donations. And it receives occasional subsidies for specific projects. These subsidies are essential to its activities. 

The movement works in a network in function of its activities, it has special partners with whom it frequently works (The Human Rights League, The Centre for the Equality of Chances and the Struggle against Racism and the CIRE among others). The mass media also play an important role in its activities because in this way, public interest is created and can attract the public’s collaboration.

Concerning the problems which it must face, MRAX has financial problems like nearly all other associations with the same legal status. The lack of means is constant and the financial situation is often in the red. Another problem results from the fact that all the workers (except one) have an ACS status (subsidised contractual agent), that is to say, they can only be hired with the approval of the ORBEM (Brussels Regional Office for Employment) and they must meet certain criteria (length of unemployment, qualifications, etc.) Thus, the movement cannot always hire the person most suitable for the job. It also has problems of frustration. And finally, there are problems for the salaried workers and the militants to understand each other’s situation.

In relation to public authorities, MRAX would like to be better listened to.

4.3.9. Caritas Secours International (CSI)

Caritas Secours International (Caritas International Rescue) is a non-profit organisation founded in 1948 with the aim of showing the solidarity of Belgian Catholic society vis-à-vis persons in distress in Belgium as well as in other countries. In Belgium the associations’ activities are directed toward refugees, asylum seekers, immigrants and persons who have no status and who are in an irregular situation. In the eyes of the leaders, that which is essential, is that the person can explain his problem and be listened to attentively as a human being. The services of assistance in Belgium are composed of the Social Service (thirteen social assistants), the Housing Service (nine persons) and the Structural Service, or a total of thirty-some persons of whom many are immigrants. 

Forty-five percent of the people helped are Africans and forty-two percent are Europeans, forty-six percent are asylum seekers, twenty seven percent are refused asylum seekers, eight percent are recognised refugees and seven percent of the persons are in illegal situations.

Concerning the undocumented immigrants, Caritas is one of the Non Governmental Organisations consulted by the Minister of the Interior before adoption of the law on the regularisation operation. It also signed the demands formulated in the context of the National Movement for the Regularisation of Undocumented immigrants and Refugees. Sice the law on regularisation came into effect, it has mostly worked towards sensitising interested persons by letting them know that this operation is an opportunity  to be grabbed. In the same way, its monthly publication, called Documentation Notes, on the theme of the rights of refugees and foreigners on one side and on the analysis and interpretation of the laws in matters of regularisation is an important addition for those who work in the field. The association has also helped many people to file their demand for regularisation and to fill in their case file as thoroughly as possible. Finally, two members of Caritas International Rescue have been chosen as members of the regularisation commission.

The finances of Caritas International Rescue are assured by subsidies handed down by the State (the Minister of Social Integration gives subsidies to ensure the welcome to asylum seekers) and by its own funds (gathered through fund-raising). 

Caritas International Rescue is a member of many co-ordinations (the Belgian Committee for Help to Refugees at the federal level, CIRE for the French-speaking part and OCIV for the Flemish part, the National Movement for the Regularisation of Undocumented immigrants). It is also part of other Catholic organisations.

Caritas regrets that although there is a series of conventions, human rights are not taken seriously by local, national or international authorities. It reproaches the authorities of forgetting humans and their backgrounds.

4.3.10. Christian Workers’ Movement  (MOC)

MOC is an association of fact which acts as a pressure movement. It co-ordinates of organisations which touch all domains of social, economic and political life (the health insurance is concerned with health problems, the union is concerned with the work world, etc.) in the desire to defend a project for society based on solidarity, equality, and which tries - through different political connections - to get its demands to the government.

MOC quickly joined the national movement for regularisation of undocumented immigrants and refugees. In the beginning, it wanted to carry its political demands. Then, step by step, the regions pointed out that they were receiving visits from undocumented immigrants and that it would be useful to put the MOC at their service. This is how at the health insurance level, social service offices were organised by social assistants; they could help undocumented immigrants with health problems, fill in their papers and call on doctors to identify different pathologies. For their part, the unions gave the first information in the information services that were held. Legal services were also offered to the undocumented immigrants with lawyers who were available for complicated problems and thus their explanations helped to complete the files. MOC co-ordinated open offices for the undocumented immigrants; about four hundred persons were thus welcomed. Before opening the offices, MOC had worked with associations who had knowledge in the field in order to train people who would provide help in the offices. The movement has also worked with the Centre for Equal Opportunity where some lawyers from the health insurance went to re-enforce their team. It also provided some buildings for the Centre to hold their offices. At present, the offices are still maintained by volunteers because there is a lot of follow-up to be done. MOC is looking for a way to be able to pay the volunteers. They are also looking for possibilities to free money to be able to pay the lawyers of undocumented immigrants who will go to the regularisation commission. Finally, two MOC representatives will sit on the regularisation commission.

The general secretariat of MOC is made of five people as acting spokespersons for the directors at the national scale: the president is a volunteer, the general secretary, the political secretary and two national secretaries are paid. In all, about a hundred persons work for the organisation. In the regions, there is usually a permanent representative who is subsidised by the French community and the others have ACS (Subsidised Contractual Agent) or PRIME (Regional Projects for Integration in the Work Market).

The main financial source is the French community (permanent educational subsidy). Next are the dues, part of which come from MOC organisations such as the Central Christian Union, the health insurance, etc.

Given that the culture budget is a small budget, MOC sometimes finds itself a little squeezed for working subsidies. Inside the movement, the decision-making process is a little slow, which is a handicap compared to small associations which can make decisions and take positions from one day to the next. One of the problems in relation to the regularisation campaign was that MOC was not equipped legally, no one was specialised in foreigners’ rights, for example. MOC was able to count on a network of volunteer lawyers. One of the movement’s frustrations is that it wants to continue the work begun during the regularisation campaign but would need more means in order to be able to keep its information centres for undocumented immigrants open. 

Concerning the public authorities, the movement denounced the political behaviour in the start up of the regularisations which dragged its feet in nominating the NGOs, the judges and the lawyers. It would like the regularisation to be done quickly and will be watching everything that happens in the regularisation commissions. It would also like regularisation to become structural.

4.3.11. Point d’Appui

Point d’Appui is a non-profit organisation created four years ago. It is a service to people who accompany undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers. It is the French equivalent of Steunpunt. The first contact between people and the non-profit organisation is done through telephone hotlines organised two times a week. The first job consists of asking about all the steps taken to demand asylum (have all the administrative steps been taken?, are there no more appeals in abeyance?, etc.) They also get information from other services to continue the follow-up of cases. The requests made to Point d’Appui are diverse and may be about health, housing - which is a crucial problem - , children’s schooling, marriage, etc, in brief, everything that concerns people’s day to day life. There is also the question of voluntary returns; in four years, three returns have been accompanied.

Point d’Appui is trying with other organisations to set up a work group to try to find a structural solution to the problem of undocumented immigrants. 

The public of Point d’Appui is thus composed of asylum seekers, foreigners in general and undocumented migrants. They are generally persons between the ages of 18 and 50 years old who come from sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe.

Only one person works full time and is paid by a subsidy from the Walloon region (PRIME contract). All the others are volunteers. In addition to the job created in the context of the PRIME project, the Walloon Region gives the association a small subsidy. At its start-up, it received a large grant from the King Baudoin Foundation. Today, it receives other small grants and organises activities such as concerts to collect some money.

Point d’Appui works in a network with Steunpunt as well as other organisations and services. It acts as a link between people and the organisations. 

As for its problems, there is first of all a financial problem which leaves little room to move. Point d’Appui also finds it frustrating to help people about very existential things and then be blocked by housing problems  (in all the official structures, as soon as it concerns undocumented immigrants, the doors are shut).

Finally, vis-à-vis politics, Point d’Appui thinks that more structural regularisation need to be considered (there will always be undocumented immigrants). As for other associations, it is necessary to be a little coherent about the undocumented immigrants. There are also dysfunction, an association which provides food assistance cannot help the undocumented immigrants because in order to receive the aid, a document from the CPAS is required. 

4.3.12. Association for Foreigners’ Rights (ADDE)

ADDE is a non-profit organisation founded more than twenty years ago by lawyers working on questions of foreigners’ rights. The objective was and still is to make foreigners’ rights known. ADDE analyses difficult situations of housing, expulsions, asylum rights with juridical instruments of national and international law with the objective of finding a solution to the problems. The target public of ADDE is mainly field workers, lawyers, social workers, communal agents and ministers who work in the context of foreigners’ rights. ADDE does a job of ‘education’ through training sessions and seminars. Aimed at the same public, ADDE publishes a legal review. A third sector of activities is legal advice through help centres for foreign persons who have a problem or workers in the field. When there are too many demands, people are directed to other services such as the Protestant Social Service for Foreigners among others. Finally, ADDE takes part in platforms for associations and reflection on current projects. 

Until 1997, the association participated at the European level in seminars of reflection on the theme of migration. It was the Belgian spokesperson for the Network of Migrations in Third States (IMET). It also benefited from a financial intervention of the European Union at the time a colloquium was organised about foreign minors in 1994 which was the subject of a publication and in 1996 for a colloquium “15 years after the December 15, 1980 law” which also gave rise to a special issue of the magazine.

In relation to undocumented immigrants, ADDE is one of the organisations whose members were consulted before the regularisation law was adopted. It organised a daily help centre during the regularisation campaign where people could come to fill in the forms (more than a hundred people came). It also organised a month-long training session in January during the regularisation on how the questionnaire should be filled in, how to understand the law, etc. ADDE is also part of the regularisation commission. Before the December 22, 1999 regularisation law, ADDE had often studied in its training sessions article 9 clause 3 of the December 15 law and the different circulars in application of article 9. Every year it also organises a complete recycling on the right of foreigners and how it affects different questions (and thus, regularisation). In 1999, there was a special training session concerning the latest circulars (Van den Bossche of December 15, 1998). The Interior Minister also consulted it as an NGO having experience in the domain of human rights.

The public addressed by the ADDE is made up of about 75% people from other countries, 20% people from the community and 5% Belgians. People from Eastern Europe mostly come for asylum questions and North Africans for problems of family re-unification.

The work team of the association is composed of four permanent employees (lawyers, secretary, drawers) of whom two are European or non-European immigrants.

As for financing, each of the team members is subsidised. ADDE also benefits from financing from COCOF (French Community Council of the Brussels-capital Region) as an association working in the domain of permanent education. Finally, ADDE finances itself through the training sessions that it organises and by sales of memberships or reviews. It does not carry out fund-raising collections.

ADDE collaborates with some associations, especially in the context of reflection on regularisation or on the asylum procedures, it is a member of a platform with the Human Rights League, a member of the board of direction of CIRE, etc. In the context of its training sessions, it works with experts who are invited, with the Walloon Region, with the General Commissariat for Refugees and Stateless Persons, with the European Union,…; this depends on the subject.

Finances remain a problem, ADDE would like to organise a decentralised legal help centre and go to the people in their neighbourhoods, but to do this, it needs money.

Vis-à-vis the politicians, ADDE would like them to see the reality without blinders, in global way and not always stigmatise the person who resides illegally by trying to understand why he is there, to not have a narrow view of things. The new direction of the Belgian immigration policy is in its opinion mixed. It notes nevertheless positive aspects: regularisation, promises concerning minors (especially those who are in the closed centres or the adaptation of the law on the entry to the territory concerning unaccompanied minors), the changes in the Belgian Nationality Code. However, it also notes more negative aspects: the distancing policy as it is directed towards collective distancing and “ethnic” targets (for example, the Slovakian people).

Indicative Bibliography 

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Annex: List of NGO’s contacted

1.	APD 
Rue Jean d’Outremeuse, 26-28
4020 Liège
Personne de contact : Anne-Françoise Bastin

2.	CIRE
Rue du Vivier, 80/82
1050 Bruxelles
Personne de contact : Mario Gotto

3.	Steunpunt
Gaucheretstraat, 164
1030 Bruxelles
Personne de contact : Didier Vanderslycken

4.	Ligue des droits de l’homme
Rue de l’enseignement, 91
1000 Bruxelles
Personne de contact : Benoît Van der Meerschen

5.	Centre pour l’égalité des chances et la lutte contre le racisme
Rue de la Loi, 155
1040 Bruxelles
Personne de contact : Jean Cornil

6.	MSF
Rue Dartois, 46
1000 Bruxelles
Personne de contact : Pierre Ryskmans

7.	OCIV
Gaucheretstraat, 164
1030 Bruxelles
Personne de contact : Pieter Degryse

8.	MRAX
Rue de la Poste, 37
1210 Bruxelles
Personne de contact : Nicole Mayer

9.	Caritas Secours International 
Rue de la Charité, 43
1210 Bruxelles
Personne de contact : Jozef Cleemput et Danièle Madrid

10.	MOC
Chaussée de Haecht, 579
1031 Bruxelles
Personne de contact : Véronique Oruba

11.	Point d’Appui
BP 57
4020 Liège
Personne de contact : Jeannette Bertrand et Sophie Drion

12.	ADDE
Avenue de Stalingrad, 24
1000 Bruxelles
Personne de contact : Isabelle Doyen

13.	Croix-Rouge
Chaussée de Vlorgaet, 96
Bruxelles
Personne de contact : Valérie Velghe