Migrants in EU ‘capital’: more than 50,000 undocumented in Brussels

While the issue of immigration remains on the agenda of EU politics, tens of thousands of people without a residence permit live a few steps away from the buildings of European institutions. According to a study by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, one of the most important universities in the Belgian capital, there are about 112,000 people living in Belgium without documents. Of these, 52,000 live in Brussels, home to the main EU institutions.

The authors of the study, demographer Johan Surkyn and sociologists Pieter-Paul Verhaeghe and Sylvie Gadeyne, have come up with an innovative method for calculating the number of paperless people living in the country. The research began with recorded deaths, one of the most reliable demographic data. In fact, official statistics record all deaths that occur in Belgium, including those not on their list of residence. And every year in Belgium about 500 people who are not registered with the civil registry die.

Based on these statistics, the researchers calculated that on average across the country, there are about 489,000 people who are not registered in Belgium every day. This figure includes not only immigrants without a residence permit, but also tourists and asylum seekers.

By subtracting these groups from 489,000 unregistered people, the researchers came to the number of 112,000 undocumented immigrants from countries outside the Schengen area. Although research results have been reported by a few people, tested local, which has not yet undergone the so-called peer review procedure, that is, critical evaluation of the work by other experts, and has not yet been published in a scientific journal. However, the method has caught the interest of other demographic experts, and Surkyn, the academic who led the research, said he was convinced “other countries would be inspired by it” to more accurately measure the paperless in his own land.

The estimate, which refers to the Belgian capital alone – more than 50,000 people according to the study – can still be revised upwards this year, given that Brussels has been the destination for thousands of immigrants who have filled adjacent streets in recent months. The Petit-Chateau is the first reception center for asylum seekers, who have long suffered from bed shortages. It’s a problem that Belgian authorities need to react to, as they have for several weeks, by opening other makeshift centers to prevent migrants from sleeping on the street.

Source: Today IT

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