Citing a shortage of accommodation and a growing number of people seeking shelter, the Belgian government announced on Tuesday (August 29) that all places in reception facilities are to be reserved for families with children who are claiming asylum, and that none will be provided to single men.

The move follows a recent sharp rise in the number of people arriving in Belgium seeking protection, putting pressure on a system which has struggled to cope.

Announcing the temporary suspension in places for single males, Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor said she expected a further increase in arrivals of families.

"I want to completely avoid children ending up on the streets in winter," de Moor was quoted in the Flemish media as saying.

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2,000 single men on waiting list

De Moor did not say how long the suspension by the Fedasil network, the agency in charge of asylum seekers, would last. Following the announcement, she hit out at claims that the government is not fulfilling its obligations.

Interviewed on the Flemish public news network VRT on Wednesday, she said the Belgian asylum reception system was larger than it had ever been, but that it was still under severe pressure, with about 2,000 single men currently on the waiting list.

"We have created throusands of additional reception places in the past year. I remain committed to that, but the reality is harsh: we are not getting this sorted," de Moor said.

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'Unlawful and inhumane'

Refugee aid groups condemned the government's decision, the Flemish Refugee Council calling the measures "unlawful…, incomprehensible and inhumane."

In a statement, the organization said it was questionable that the move would prevent families with children from ending up on the street: "The available shelters from Fedasil can now be counted on a few hands."

According to Fedasil’s website, Belgium has about 100 reception centers in total, providing around 34,000 places for asylum seekers.

Tine Claus, the director of the Refugee Council, told VRT that the need for more accommodation should have been predicted. "The influx is always higher towards the end of summer," she said.

"To fulfil our humanitarian obligations you could expect policymakers to take proactive action and introduce emergency measures like a dispersal plan [i.e. a distribution of asylum seekers among municipalities: eds note]," Claus continued.

In 2015 such measures successfully ensured that no one had to sleep on the streets, Claus said. She also contrasted the current situation in Belgium with Austria, which had seen a similar number of arrivals and "was perfectly capable of organizing emergency accommodation."

Belgium has done 'more than its fair share'

The government has repeated its claim that a lack of organization of European asylum and migration policy is largely to blame for the pressure on Belgium's asylum system.

De Moor complained that other countries have not suffered from the unequal burden-sharing of migrants in the European Union.

"Our country has been doing more than its fair share for a long time. This cannot go on any longer," the news agency AFP quoted de Moor as saying.

"This year, 19,000 asylum seekers registered in Belgium, compared with 1,500 in Portugal, a country that has a similar population to Belgium," the minister continued.

In addition, she said Sweden, Hungary, Bulgaria and Poland had also registered fewer asylum applications, despite an overall rise in what she called migratory pressure on Europe this year.

With AFP, VRT