The National Asylum Developments Database presents legislative, institutional and policy developments related to asylum since 2018.
Searches can be narrowed down by:
Country
Year
Type of development: legislative, institutional or policy
Thematic area: access to procedure, access to information, legal assistance and representation, interpretation services, special procedures, procedures at first instance, reception of applicants for international protection, detention, procedures at second instance, country of origin information, statelessness in the asylum context, content of protection, return of former applicants, resettlement and humanitarian admission programmes.
Details on each development and further analysis can be consulted in the Asylum Report series.
The National Asylum Developments Database can be searched by institutional, legislative and policy changes. There are three types of policy developments:
Policies and practices related to the integrity of national asylum systems aim to swiftly identify unfounded asylum applications and ensure that financial, human and administrative resources are not dissipated on such claims. These measures involve efforts to rapidly establish an applicant’s identity, including age, country of origin, travel route and security concerns if any. These facts help to better assess the credibility of the applicant’s statements and determine whether beneficiaries of international protection are still in need of protection. The prevention of unintentional misuse of the asylum procedure and its integrity are also supported by the provision of information to asylum applicants and beneficiaries of international protection on their respective rights and obligations and related procedural arrangements.
Policies and practices that improve the efficiency of national asylum systems include digitalisation and the use of new technologies in the framework of asylum, prioritising or fast-tracking applications, the re-organisation of the procedure itself or implementing changes in the number of staff employed.
Policy and practice aiming to enhance the quality of national asylum systems contribute to increasing fairness, integrity and efficiency. Quality assurance systems, guidance materials and capacity-building measures typically pay off on the initial investment and efforts. The initiatives include staff training, revising existing guidance materials and monitoring the quality of the decisions delivered.
The database presents validated factual information and does not imply any endorsement from the European Commission or EUAA.
An amendment to the Law on Foreigners stated that stateless persons who do not meet the requirements for permanent or long-term residence may obtain permission for a one-year prolonged stay.
Reception of applicants for international protection
For the purposes of family reunification of beneficiaries of international protection, it is clearly stated now that family ties must precede the foreigner's entry into the country.
The Guardianship Service continued with an AMIF-funded project to develop a methodology for monitoring guardians and the assessment of the best interests of minors and worked on improving communications with all stakeholders.
The CGRS updated its guide for unaccompanied minors applying for international protection and published two new guides on accompanied children’s right to be heard in the asylum procedure (one for children, one for parents or guardians).
The CGRS implemented a quality control process for gender-related cases, starting with cases which invoked sexual orientation as a ground to monitor the application of its Sexual Orientation Guideline.
The CGRS continued training protection officers and supervisors who were joining the minors team, and informative sessions were organised to all new protection officers.
All new protection officers at the CGRS were trained on gender in the asylum procedure and a specialised training course was provided for more experienced protection officers and supervisors on cases involving gender-related grounds.
The CGRS, in cooperation with the Guardianship Service, organised several training sessions for guardians on the asylum procedure for unaccompanied minors.
The staff of two Fedasil reception centres underwent intensive training on restorative practices, developed by the Oranjehuis NGO, to prevent conflicts between unaccompanied minors and staff, provide sustainable measures for minors and reduce the need for disciplinary transfers.
Fedasil launched a multi-lingual information platform for applicants for international protection, www.fedasilinfo.be, accessible only from Belgium and available in 12 languages.
The CGRS in Belgium continued to give refugee status to minor girls with a well-founded fear of persecution due to female genital mutilation, but parents were no longer granted derived refugee status automatically and needed to submit a separate request for regularisation.
Fedasil made improvements to the arrival path in the temporary arrival centre in Brussels, rendering registration and lodging procedures quicker and more efficient.
The Council of Ministers approved several measures on 14 November 2019 to speed up the procedures for international protection by hiring more staff in asylum authorities, increasing reception capacity to accelerate outflow and cooperating closer with all federal government departments.
Reception of applicants for international protection
Fedasil and the Red Cross established an agreement with the Flemish Integration and Civic Integration Agency to notify the public of the opening of any new reception centre and the agency would appoint a liaison officer to support the local administration in addressing residents.
Reception of applicants for international protection
Persons already benefitting from international protection in another EU Member State no longer receive material reception conditions. Dublin applicants who absconded and re-applied for reception after six months were also no longer entitled to material reception conditions. Fedasil evaluates these rejections on a case-by-case basis, taking into account any specific vulnerabilities of the applicant.
A law proposal was put forth to reduce the period of exemption for beneficiaries of international protection from the requirement to have sufficient economic resources from one year to three months.
Reception of applicants for international protection
The Flemish family allowance system was reformed and transformed into a so-called Growth Package (Groeipakket), whereby every child in Flanders is entitled to the allowance as of 1 January 2019, including minor applicants in the second reception phase.
The Asyl-Train project implemented by IOM Austria continued in 2019 and provided training to relevant national authorities and service providers to help identify trafficked persons in the framework of the asylum procedure.
