The hunger strike launched 60 days ago in Brussels by 456 people on hunger strike has been definitively broken. The Belgian Government is expected to respond positively to its request, taking into account the Executive's "hand stretched". In particular, the Belgian Government has warned them that they will be proposed "long-term consolidation" or "international support" for the few. On July 16, they also began a thirst strike, some without papers, with the aim of increasing pressure. The collective USPR, called the Union for the Regularization of Non-Papers, has valued the achievement as "a small victory", making it clear that they will have to follow "watch out" because "the struggle is not yet won".
La grève de la faim des 470 un-papiers depuis presque deux mois à Bruxelles est suspendue!
An accord pour une régularisation des grévistes est sur la table.
J’étais sur place hier et la situation de certains étaient extrêmement préoccupants, nombreuses hospitalisations. pic.twitter.com/QwbzcuUrWQ
— Remy Buisine (@RemyBuisine) July 21, 2021
They were concentrated in the church of St. John the Baptist in Brussels and on the two campuses of the Free University (ULB) and the University of Vrije (VUB).
The Dutch Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, has welcomed the decision, and stressed that a government "never" can accept blackmail. Until this hopeful response from the Government comes, two months have passed, and as far as the health of people without papers is concerned, many are in an extremely serious situation.
Earlier this month, the UN Human Rights and Extreme Poverty Officer, Olivier De Schutter, met with the strikers and the Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Sammy Mahdi, received a letter from Felipe González, responsible for the human rights of migrants.
It cannot be otherwise, they are in a very serious situation: they are devoid of paper, unsafe and in very precarious living conditions. The Infomigrants group has warned that we already have evidence of this before the hunger strike that some of them have made suicide attempts or have stitched their lips as a protest. Many have been in Belgium for a long time – some at the age of 20 – and yet they still have no papers, almost no rights.
With the Zabalduz caravan in the city of Bihac in Bosnia Herzegovina, activist Nihad Suljic explained to us that the Drina River is the largest tomb in the Balkans. In order not to be forgotten, he is responsible for identifying the bodies that are found and for giving them... [+]
Another year, in the caravan Mugak Zabalduz we will leave Euskal Herria about a hundred people with the aim of denouncing European migration policies, and especially the recently approved Pact on Migration and Asylum. This year we are going to the border of the Balkans, the city... [+]