Migrants on mass hunger strike in Belgian church

Without official papers, these migrants have no easy access to healthcare or state benefits.

Since the end of January, dozens of undocumented migrant workers occupy the Beguinage church in Brussels. Since then, the number of occupiers has grown to 430 people. Since the church became too small, the occupiers moved to two universities in the Belgian capital, the VUB and ULB.

The migrants chose these buildings not randomly. “These institutions have a history of struggle”, said a migrant to Belgian newspaper De Standaard, writes the Dutch daily Nederlands Dagblad.

And the struggle is real. Despite the growing tension between the protesters and the authorities, the Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Sammy Mahdi is not planning to give in to the demands of the migrants. According to the Christian Democrat, these migrants have been ordered by authorities to leave the country years ago. Since then, they have been working underground. “It is not because you do not comply with the rules for 5, 10 or 20 years that you suddenly get the right to have official papers. Otherwise, you can abolish all residence procedures”, said Mahdi last weekend on Twitter.

According to Euronews, among the people on a hunger strike, 250 are men. The men mainly come from Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and Pakistan and say they have been living and working under the radar in Belgium for years and, in many cases, decades.

The demands of the migrants are not new; in 2000 and 2009, the Belgian government made a “collective regulation” by giving all asylum seekers official papers. At this moment, there are approximately 150,000 undocumented migrants in Belgium. State Secretary Mahdi thinks a new round of collective regulation will not solve the problem.

Sewed lips

Although the Belgian government is not planning to give in to the migrants’ demands, pressure is mounting since the protesters’ health is deteriorating. Some people have been on a hunger strike since May 23rd. Four of them have sewn their lips together.

A doctor who monitors the health of the people confirms that they are debilitating. “They’re starting to have a hard time standing up. They get more and more abdominal pain,” she says to Belgian press agency Belga. “They are so tired and so stuffy that sometimes they can’t sleep, and that can have physical and mental consequences.”

According to Belgium broadcaster VRT, there are dozens of hospitalizations a day. Some hunger strikers refuse medical attention and immediately sign documents to be discharged from the hospital to continue their hunger strike.

“We are not here for fun, but to protest our lack of rights,” said a hunger striker who has already ended up in hospital twice. “We are being kept silent and ask the authorities to stop being silent and to clarify everything,” he said.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Mahdi remains determined to hold his grounds. “Let’s all hope that no one dies of starvation. I hope I don’t have to prove how principled I am”, he tweeted last week.