The end of the crisis does not seem to be in sight! Earlier this week, we learned that Fedasil had been condemned over 90 times, but yet, every day there are more and more men refused accommodation and left to sleep on the street. We are all really pleased with how successful the legal referral system has been so far but we have started to notice that it is becoming harder and harder for people with positive court decisions to get an appointment with Fedasil. This is frustrating as without an appointment the applicants cannot get a centre.

In theory, Fedasil could be fined for every day that those with a positive court decision are left waiting for an appointment but this procedure is complicated as it involves getting an independent bailiff to witness the situation and of course this bailiff has to notify Fedasil before he arrives to monitor the situation. This system thus gives Fedasil incentive to give the applicant concerned accommodation just before the bailiff comes for their visit. It is a legal loop hole that our protection team is investigating, but, in the meantime, the Startpunt team have the unenviable task of telling people that, once again, they have to play the waiting game.

With the lawyer referral system, we have a rough idea of how long it should take for a lawyer to contact their client and how long is needed after this initial contact to get a positive court decision. However, with Fedasil we really do not know how long the applicant will have to wait for an appointment. At the start people were able to get in straight away without an appointment but then the system switched and since then the waiting times have been very fluctuant. Last week most people I met got an appointment within a day or two but now this week I have met several people that have been waiting almost a whole week to get a reply to their request.

This is really difficult as people start to lose hope in the system when nobody replies to them and they have no idea when they will finally get reception. I think a lot of our team also felt really bad giving this news to people as they felt responsible for giving people false hope in the beginning. I think giving false hope is something we always try to avoid but that is much easier said than done. Nowadays, we try to warn all the men that we meet in the morning that there is a high probability that they will not get accommodation if their application falls within the realms of the Dublin procedure.

Nonetheless, these are not the only times when we have to try warn people that the system may not work in their favour. We meet many people from countries with low acceptance rates. We also meet people who have stories that are not very clear and we cannot tell straight away whether their situation fits within the framework of the Geneva Convention or not.

"People start to lose hope in the system when nobody replies to them and they have no idea when they will finally get reception"

During the week, I met one gentleman who asked me about witchcraft and whether your family accusing you of sorcery is grounds for international protection. This was not something I had heard about before and I did not have any concrete answers for me. Luckily, he seemed to have done a lot of research on the topic, before coming to ask for asylum, and he told us that from what he had read online most applicants who were accused of witchcraft were granted international protection. I answered the gentleman’s other questions regarding the Dublin Regulation III and moved on to the next person.

Nonetheless this man’s story and the question of whether or not being accused of witchcraft could be grounds for international protection, really stuck with me and I decided to read up on witchcraft and asylum when I got home. I was glad to find out that the man was not wrong and that witchcraft accusations are considered grounds for international protections. Nonetheless, as with grounds, it is not as straight forward as simply saying that your family have accused you of witchcraft and then being automatically granted international protection.

According to the new European Union Agency for Asylum, people accused of witchcraft could be considered members of a particular social group. This is based on the fact that they are perceived as being different from the rest of society. While most asylum claims are based on belonging to a particular to a social group, it has been widely accepted that people can be persecuted if they are perceived of belonging to certain political or religious groups despite having no actual affiliation to the group.

As such, the international protection cases of those who are perceived to be part of a particular social group are treated in the same way as those belonging to the social group in question. While you could quickly jump to conclusions and argue that witchcraft is different as witches are not believed to exits, this does not change the most important similarity between both groups. People’s lives are at risk because they are associated with the group. The Fauziya Kasinga case, is also important in this regard as it expanded the definition of a social group to include women that would be of risk of FGM in their local group.

Nonetheless, establishing those accused of witchcraft as members of a particular social group is not enough to guarantee international protection to all members of the group. The person accused of witchcraft must also be at risk of being subjected to treatment which would equate to torture or inhumane treatment tin order to meet the well-founded fear of persecution element outlined in the Geneva Convention. The risk of persecution is thus determined based an individual assessment and country of origin information.

"It is quite common in some regions for a new born baby to be accused of witchcraft if their mother dies in childbirth"

This is important as there is no easy way of identifying victims of witchcraft accusations and the treatment of those accused varies a lot between different regions and countries. While elderly women and children are the most common targets, those with mental health issues, intellectual disabilities, unusual intellectual talent and or physical disabilities are also common victims.

Accusations are often made by family members and are often linked to misfortunes including the death of family members of poor harvests. In fact, it is quite common in some regions for a new born baby to be accused of witchcraft if their mother dies in childbirth. In the case of orphans, extended family members may also accuse them of witchcraft and send them the church as a way of reducing the number of mouths they have to feed.

In many parts of Africa, local churches play an important role in legitimising witchcraft within communities. Pastors often provide exorcism services which could involve maiming the victim with a knife, poisoning them, burning them and or depriving them of food or water. Ritual killings are also common and may take different forms including hanging, drowning and burning victims. Children accused of witchcraft are often subjected to abandonment, sexual violence, infanticide and stigmatisation. They may also be denied schooling.

While churches are often the centre of persecution, there are also several organisations working in countries such as the DRC and Nigeria who are working to re-educate religious officials in the hope that they will offer peaceful exorcism ceremonies to allow those accused of witchcraft to return to their local communities and lead a normal life. 

While there are laws against witchcraft in most countries including the DRC, they are often not enforced. For example, in 2010, UNICEF estimated that there were 20,000 ‘child sorcerers’ living in Kinshasa alone despite laws condemning witchcraft. Also depending on the country, the law often condemns witchcraft itself rather than the persecution of those accused of witchcraft which is extremely problematic as it makes it harder to persecute those who essentially torture people accused of witchcraft.

Having learned a little bit more about the treatment of people accused of witchcraft, I sincerely hope that the man that I met has the opportunity to receive international protection in Belgium and will not be forced to return to his family and face local exorcism rituals!