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1st LD Writethru: Syrian family asks Belgian PM for visa to flee war-torn home

Xinhua, December 13, 2016 Adjust font size:

A Syrian family on Monday made a request to Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel for a permit to travel to Belgium and seek protection.

In response, Michel proposed that the family should apply for a humanitarian visa in neighboring Lebanon, not Belgium.

He said that he would initiate diplomatic talks with the Lebanese authorities to facilitate the family's application.

However, the proposal was subsequently rejected by a Belgian lawyer who is representing the family from the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo and handed in the request on their behalf.

Mieke Van den Broek, the lawyer, said the prime minister's proposal came as "shocking."

She told the press on late Monday that Lebanon did not sign the Geneva Convention, and her clients would have no residence and could face discrimination in the country.

Meanwhile, Belgian State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Theo Francken welcomed the proposal on his Twitter account, calling it "the best solution."

Earlier this year a Belgian family in the southern province of Namur offered to host the Syrian family of four and assisted them in applying for a humanitarian visa, which would allow them to stay in Belgium for three months and then apply for asylum.

Their application was approved in October by the Council of Litigation of Foreigners (RvV), a Belgian administrative tribunal, but Francken refused to grant them the visa saying that it could trigger a huge flux of asylum seekers coming to Belgium through the same procedures.

A court of appeal later upheld the RvV's decision and ordered that the Belgian government would have to pay a fine of 4,000 euros per day until a visa was issued to the family. The fine, however, has not been collected so far.

The case has sparked heated debates in Belgium.

Francken insisted that the visa would not be issued as it would make a "dangerous precedent" and put the country's border control at risk.

Supporters of the family argued that such a refusal violated the European Convention of Human Rights.

The RvV on Monday decided to bring the case to the European Court of Justice, according to Francken.

The court's ruling, which is expected to be issued in a few months, will set a legal precedent for countries throughout the European Union. Endit