Burundi Athletes Missing in Croatia Seek Asylum in Belgium, Confirmed by Authorities

A group of Burundian handball players, who mysteriously vanished in Croatia last month, have taken steps to seek asylum in Belgium, as confirmed by Belgian authorities.

According to the Belgian State Secretary for Asylum and Migration, Nicole de Moor, a number of these young athletes, who went missing on August 9 in Rijeka, a Croatian city, have submitted asylum applications in Belgium. This move is noteworthy because Belgium, having been the former colonial ruler of Burundi, houses a substantial Burundian community.

Though the exact count of asylum seekers from this particular group has not been disclosed by the State Secretary, the Belgian press agency has hinted at the majority of the missing athletes being part of this asylum-seeking endeavor.

In the preceding month, Croatian authorities reported that ten young individuals, all allegedly "born in 2006," departed from their university residence lodgings in Rijeka. These individuals, identified as handball players, had arrived in Croatia to participate in the Junior World Championship, as per the Croatian police.

State Secretary de Moor has acknowledged the asylum applications and extended a welcoming stance. Nevertheless, she emphasized that Croatia bears responsibility for these Burundian athletes, as they entered the country on a short-stay visa for the tournament and are now attempting to seek asylum in another Schengen state. In response, she expressed concern about the practice of asylum seekers transiting between European nations, citing it as a significant issue within European asylum policy.

The accommodation facilities for international protection applicants in Belgium currently face substantial demand, leading to the prioritization of families with children over single men. Belgium has persistently called for a more equitable distribution of asylum seekers among European Union member countries.

Furthermore, Belgium has recently revised its migration laws, releasing a list of non-European Union countries, including Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, India, and Georgia, deemed as safe countries of origin for asylum purposes. Applicants from these countries may experience certain streamlined procedures during their asylum application, including expedited processing and an accelerated appeal process through the Council for Alien Law Litigation.

The concept of a "safe country of origin" is determined by the absence of persecution or serious harm, both legally and politically, and the assessment considers the overall conditions within the country in question.

In the year 2022, Belgium experienced an influx of over 100,000 asylum applications, with nearly 60 percent originating from Ukrainian nationals granted temporary protection status. Moreover, data from the European Migration Network indicates that approximately 36,000 individuals sought international protection, nearing the levels observed during the "migration crisis" of 2015 in Europe.

Source: schengenvisainfo.com