It is, the­re­fore, in less than an hour that the teams of the Hub must explain the situa­tion to those present, and impro­vise a device to retrieve the affairs of those who, having recei­ved no prior war­ning, are absent, and are like­ly to see their pro­per­ty dis­po­sed of. 

Around 17 : 30, the ope­ra­tion ends, the team of police left the scene, lea­ving the people evic­ted but still without shel­ter, find ano­ther place, or to ask their tent for the night. 

The policy of ‘zero camp,’ the only commitment respected to this day 

This police inter­ven­tion illus­trates a poli­cy of invi­si­bi­li­sa­tion of the pre­ca­rious­ness that will not solve any­thing and aggra­vates the huma­ni­ta­rian situa­tion : dis­lodge people and throw away their per­so­nal effects has never sol­ved the pro­blem of non/poor housing.

This is all the more cyni­cal and inef­fi­cient that it fits in a double context of non-host ins­ti­tu­tio­na­li­zed and satu­ra­tion chro­nic emer­gen­cy shel­ter. On one side, the bel­gian State per­sists for more than three years, in a poli­cy of non-host struc­tu­ral to the applicant·workers ’ inter­na­tio­nal pro­tec­tion, lea­ving each day dozens of people on the street ille­gal­ly, in bla­tant vio­la­tion of their fun­da­men­tal rights, and des­pite mul­tiple convic­tions in court. On the other, the net­work of emer­gen­cy accom­mo­da­tion in Brus­sels is total­ly satu­ra­ted, unable to cope with the needs of the shel­ter to men, women and chil­dren forced·es to sur­vive in condi­tions unworthy.

The eva­cua­tion of set­tle­ments and the dis­per­sion seem to be now the only solu­tions ima­gi­ned by the city of Brus­sels to address the pro­blem of wan­de­ring faced by the home­less in Brussels. 

During this time, the fede­ral govern­ment is shir­king their legal obli­ga­tions – they are bel­gian, euro­pean or inter­na­tio­nal – and their role in pro­tec­ting and shel­te­ring. Worse yet, they use the conse­quences of these poli­cies, using the images of this inse­cu­ri­ty to deter, accor­ding to the natio­na­li­ty, some·‘re consi­de­ring see­king asy­lum in Belgium. 

Ensuring that the dignity and fundamental rights, not multiple evacuations 

The Hub Huma­ni­ta­rian firm­ly opposes a poli­cy that pushes people to ins­tall tents in the street for lack of any alter­na­tive,. Nobo­dy has been slee­ping out­side by choice : this inse­cu­ri­ty is the direct result of the lack of shel­ter and non-com­pliance with the legal obli­ga­tions of the fede­ral autho­ri­ties. In this context, any eva­cua­tion will not solve per­ma­nent­ly the situa­tion : only the esta­blish­ment of struc­tu­ral mea­sures of pro­tec­tion and the com­pliance with the legal obli­ga­tions will ensure that the digni­ty of these people. 

We demand the autho­ri­ties to put an imme­diate end to the poli­cy of non-host who vio­lates a dai­ly basis the fun­da­men­tal rights of people in search of pro­tec­tion. We ask that struc­tu­ral mea­sures to shel­ter for all, regard­less of the admi­nis­tra­tive sta­tus, as well as the imme­diate sus­pen­sion of any discharge that would not be accom­pa­nied by tan­gible solu­tions and sus­tai­nable accommodation.