In Belgium, unaccompanied minors from Afghanistan are in dire straits. For several months now, more and more young Afghans have had their request for protection rejected. Now it's no longer the exception but the norm.

Unlike in France, an unaccompanied minor who arrives in Belgium must go through an asylum procedure the same way an adult would. If they aren’t granted refugee status or receive subsidiary protection, they could seek shelter in a facility geared toward them -- in theory. In Europe, children cannot be deported.

They will also not be assigned a guardian, which is essential for helping him with administrative procedures and schooling.

"From now on, asylum is only granted to a small category of unaccompanied minors from Afghanistan: Those who arrived at a very young age in Belgium or those suffering from serious trauma," said Clément Valentin, advocacy officer at CIRÉ (Coordination et initiatives pour réfugiés et étrangers, Coordination and initiatives for refugees and foreigners) in an interview with InfoMigrants.

Read more: France sending unaccompanied minors back to Italy, MSF

Significantly lower protection rate

Between 2017 and 2021, the protection rate for Afghan minors was 74%. In 2022, it fell to 40%, according to CIRÉ figures.

What accounts for the turnaround? The policy towards Afghan minors changed after the Taliban captured Kabul in August 2021. Belgian authorities believe the religious fundamentalists no longer represent a threat now that they control the entire country.

"For the CGRS [Commissariat général aux réfugiés et aux apatrides, Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, equivalent to the OFPRA in France], Afghans can no longer benefit from subsidiary protection because they no longer meet the criteria", said CIRÉ's Valentin.

Subsidiary protection is the most common residence permit issued to this group.

This protection is granted under three conditions: (i) risk of the death penalty; (ii) torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; (iii) serious and individual threat to a civilian's life or person by reason of indiscriminate violence.

Integration trumps risk of persecution

"We assume Afghanistan is no longer in a state of civil war, so Afghans are no longer in danger when they return home. According to this logic, they no longer need protection," Benoit Van Keirsblick, director of the NGO Defense of Children International Belgium, said in an interview with InfoMigrants.

The same situation applies to those seeking refugee status. Afghans could in theory obtain asylum based on their level of "westernization", but the requirements are restrictive.

For an Afghan to see his request accepted, he must prove the life he has built in Belgium is incompatible with the rules and norms of the Taliban, rendering a return to his country impossible. For this, several elements must be considered: the sex and age of the minor, his background and region of origin, his family's work in the country, the length of his stay in Europe, whether or not he has a romantic relationship in Belgium, and other factors.

"It doesn't really make sense. In the Geneva Convention [which determines the status of refugee], a person's integration counts less than the risk of persecution in the country of origin," Valentin told InfoMigrants.

Read more: Long asylum processes hurting access to education for unaccompanied minors

'Extremely precarious situation'

Afghan minors find themselves left to fend for themselves in an administrative no-man's land. As many reception centers are overcrowded, most of the minors are not accommodated there. As a result, they often fall off the radar of the NGOs.

"This is the worst policy", said Defense of Children International's Van Keirsblick. "Unaccompanied minors must be protected by the authorities. Instead, they sleep on the streets of a city they do not know, without family or support. To survive, they are forced to work illegally, or they are forced into prostitution and fall prey to trafficking networks. They are pushed into an extremely precarious situation."

According to the NGOs, this system is akin to a "factory of undocumented migrants" who cannot return to Afghanistan, either. "We are creating generations of people who will live illegally," Van Keirsblick said.

According to the Van Keirsblick and CIRÉ's Valentin, Brussels' policy is meant to curb the number of arrivals from Afghanistan, which is the country of the highest number of asylum seekers.

Belgium has become one of the European Union (EU) countries with the lowest protection rate for Afghan unaccompanied minors, along with Bulgaria and Hungary.

In comparison, Afghans have a 100% protection rate in Norway, Austria and Germany. Across the EU, the protection rate for Afghans is 85%, compared to 42% in Belgium (minors and adults combined).

Read more: Number of unaccompanied minors remains high in Greece