Belgium: Rewards for rejecting refugees
01 November 1994
A leaked document has revealed that the Belgian Commissioner-General for Refugees, Marc Bossuyt, is rewarding his lawyers with bonus points for every rejected request for asylum. The internal memo, published by the League for Human Rights shows that any lawyer working for the government can expect to be rewarded with 1.2 bonus points for rejecting a request for asylum. If on the other hand the claim is upheld the best the lawyer can expect is 0.6 points. Bossuyt explains in the memo that the points system will allow lawyers to see how well they are performing in comparison with others, and goes on to congratulate those who have earned most points.
The League for Human Rights argues that what this amounts to is a bonus system for turning down asylum applications without taking any account of the rights and wrongs of each particular case. This system is underpinned by the fact that very few lawyers working for the Commissariat-General have permanent contracts and therefore are in constant danger of losing their job. "It's not surprising taking this precarious work situation into account that lawyers are actively fighting for points", Pierre Hebecq, the general secretary of the league stated. "The competition between lawyers working for the commissariat is increasing. In the last few years the commissariat has employed more and more lawyers in order to cope with the growing mountain of asylum requests. There used to be 50 lawyers working for the commissariat in 1990... now there are over 250".
Whilst freely admitting the existence of the points system Mr Bossuyt denies that the aim is to reduce the number of asylum seekers. He claims that the system is nothing more than an internal method for measuring productivity. The only reason that rejected asylum requests get more bonus points is because rejected applications require written explanations.
The league however claims that this is a untrue. According to them the only difference between acceptance of a claim and rejection is that the written explanations are made open in the event of rejection. The league describes the whole system as "unworthy for somebody entrusted with the even-handed application of the Geneva Convention, especially if that person is representing Belgium on the UN sub-committee for Human Rights".
De Morgen 17.11.94.