Brussels: Two UN representatives urged Belgian authorities Monday to offer temporary residence permits to several hundred migrants who were on a hunger strike in Brussels, some of them with failed health.
Desperate migrants to get legal residency papers began their hunger strike on May 23 at two universities and a church in the capital of Belgium.
Some said they had lived and worked in European countries by 11.5 million for a decade.
In the past few days, some migrants have also begun to reject water.
UN Special Reporters Olivier de Schutter and Felipe Gonzalez wrote an open letter to the Secretary of Belgium for asylum and migration Sammy Mahdi asked for urgent steps.
“The information we receive is worrying, and some starvation strikers are between life and death,” De Schutter said, the UN Special Reporter of extreme poverty and human rights.
Gonzalez, the UN Special Rapporteur of Migrant Human Rights, said the Belgian government must clearly get rid of the possibility of deporting migrants, given their health conditions.
The government also “must consider the issuance of temporary residence permits that allow anyone who introduces demand to remain regular rights to carry out economic activities,” said Gonzalez.
In its response to the letter, Mahdi said the collective solution should not be proposed and said he had suggested to the hunger strikers they entered the request of the individual residency.
According to the reporter, around 150,000 migrants live in Belgium without authorization.
They say that people who want to have their status are diverted because it is because they are afraid to be deported if they register.
Hunger stresses have sparked tensions in the coalition government led by Prime Minister Alexander de Croo.
Last week, socialists and green call Liberal de Croo to intervene in an effort to avoid “a drama that will soon occur.” According to the Media Belgium, the Minister of Economy and Pierre-Yves Dermagne workers went further on Monday, threatening that all government socialist members will resign if one migrant who took part in the strike.
UN experts worried about migrants’ Hunger Strike in Brussels
