The ECtHR issues a temporary measure, obliging the Belgian state to provide accommodation and material assistance to homeless asylum seekers!
JUDGMENT
Msallem and 147 others v. Belgium 16.11.2022 (app. no. 48987/22 and 147 others)
SUMMARY
The case concerned the applicants, who had applied for international protection to the Belgian authorities and had not been granted accommodation due to the alleged saturation of the asylum-seeker reception network in Belgium. All those directly concerned have received a final decision of the Brussels Labor Court ordering the Federal Service for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (Fedasil) to provide housing and material assistance in accordance with the Law of 12 January 2007. However, none of these decisions have been implemented until today.
Relying mainly on Article 3 of the ECHR (inhuman and degrading treatment), the applicants complained about the non-execution of these decisions and the non-provision of accommodation.
The Court decided to issue an interim measure, obliging the Belgian State to comply with the judgments of the Brussels Labor Court in respect of each of the applicants and to provide them with accommodation and material assistance to meet their basic needs during the proceedings before the Court.
PROVISION
Article 39
PRINCIPAL FACTS
The applicants are 148 asylum-seekers of various nationalities. They are living in Belgium without
accommodation.
On various dates they lodged unilateral applications with the Brussels Labour Court, alleging a risk of
serious and irreversible damage to human dignity and requesting that Fedasil be ordered to comply
with its legal obligations under the Law of 12 January 2007 (the Law).
In each of these cases the court ordered Fedasil to house the applicants in a reception centre, or else
in a hotel or any other suitable facility should no places be available, and to ensure their reception as
defined in section 6 of the Law, subject to penalties for non-compliance. Those orders were duly
served and have become final but have not been enforced to date.
Interim measure request and complaints
On various dates between 18 October 2022 and 3 November 2022 the applicants applied to the
Court for an interim measure under Rule 39.
They relied on various Articles of the Convention including Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or
degrading treatment).
THE DECISION OF THE COURT…
On 15 November 2022 the Court decided to indicate an interim measure and to enjoin the Belgian
State to comply with the orders made by the Brussels Labour Court in respect of each applicant and
to provide them with accommodation and material assistance to meet their basic needs for the
duration of the proceedings before the Court. The decision was given by the Chamber (seven judges)
to which the applications had been allocated.
The Court drew the parties’ attention to the principle that failure by a Contracting State to comply
with a Rule 39 measure could entail a violation of Article 34 of the Convention (see Mamatkulov and
Askarov v. Turkey [GC], nos. 46827/99 and 46951/99, §§ 128-129 and operative paragraph 5, ECHR
2005-I).
