Due to the asylum crisis, Belgium deploys the army to seek more reception places | NOW

The Belgian army will help the asylum organization Fedasil to find additional places for the refugees. A dozen soldiers will also see if Fedasil can make better use of the current reception areas, reports Morning.

Nicole de Moor, the Secretary of State in charge of the reception of asylum seekers, had already requested the help of government bodies on several occasions.

Reception centers for asylum seekers are also very comprehensive in Belgium. Last week, minors had to sleep on the streets for the first time in Brussels. “Situations comparable to Ter Apel,” a spokesperson for VluchtelingenWerk Vlaanderen said of the situation. The number of reception places in Belgium is limited and Fedasil is also struggling with a shortage of staff.

Defense now deploys a command and control cell, explains a spokeswoman for Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder Morning of. These soldiers will investigate whether Fedasil can more effectively fill the existing slots.

In addition, there will be a crisis center, with which the army will seek new shelters. This should have resulted in fifteen hundred additional reception places on December 1st.

Fedasil suspended work for an hour out of dissatisfaction

Hours after a strike by Fedasil staff, it was announced that the army would intervene. Thursday afternoon, employees stopped working for an hour for the second time in a few months. They did so out of dissatisfaction with the stalled asylum system.

“The staff are tired after a series of crises,” a director of a reception center told the local media bruzz.be. “At Fedasil, it’s no problem to get wet. We do it often, but it also has to make sense and have medium and long-term perspectives.”