MODEL LETTER

Ambassador
Embassy of Belgium

Dear 

You will know that up to 700 undocumented migrants – Sans-Papiers – have been occupying the ULB and VUB universities and the church of the Béguinage since 30 January 2021 to demand their regularisation and the regularisation of all Sans-Papiers in Belgium. On 23 May, 475 of them started a hunger strike.

They highlight the desperate situation they have been forced to live in as people without papers and status in Belgium. They are people from different countries of the South and they have been overexploited by employers and denied basic rights such as healthcare, benefits and housing. They also face daily sexist and racist violence.

We are shocked by the lack of response from the Belgium Government after months of actions and representations.

As Ibtissam, a woman Sans-Papiers interviewed on RTL national TV said:
“It’s up to [the government] to think about us. We have contributed. We have cleaned their houses, we have looked after their children, we have accompanied their mums. We are really doing hard work”.

We are extremely worried by the health situation of the hunger strikers after more than 20 days without food. Every day, more of them are being hospitalised.

We are outraged by this total disrespect for human rights showed by the Belgium government.

We urge you to intervene and ask your government to respond positively to the demands to regularise urgently the hunger strikers and for a law of regularisation with clear and permanent criteria for all Sans-Papiers. These are basic human rights that are now increasingly recognised in Europe and the Americas by people, governments and institutions.

We look forward for your urgent response.

cc

mouvement.uspr@gmail.com

payday@paydaynet.org.
 
 

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