Action against the deportation of a handicaped man to Armenie on 19/12/2016

R, 26, his brother A, 30, and their mother have been at the Caricole closed centre in Steenokkerzeel for two months. Ruben, the oldest, has a serious progressive disease and is heavily physically handicapped. He needs constant assitance from her mother in order to eat, dress, wash, and he sits in a wheelchair.

They came to Belgium six years ago. They fled Armenia because of political problems (the family was in danger after one uncle had been murdered) and of the very bad health of R who would not receive appropriate treatments in his country. The father fled to Russia where he is currently living undocumented and in precarious conditions.

Since they arrived in Belgium they were given an orange card three times, enabling them to live and get appropriate care for R. The latter had several surgeries and he gets a treatment adapted to his illness so as to moderate the evolution of his state and foster his mobility.

However, following a decision by the Foreigners Office, their orange card was not renewed, the family was arrested and placed in the Caricole closed centre in view of their deportation to Armenia.

On 15 December, they got a notice of deportation under escort for the coming Monday 19 December 2016. ‘Under escort’ means a deportation with several policemen, with the people handcuffed and forcibly brought into the plane. It is to be noted that the family already got handcuffed several times to be driven to court. R was handcuffed to his wheelchair and he was extremely shocked by this treatment.

Several medical certificates prove the severity of his illness and mention that a ‘return to the country of origin where these treatments are hardly, even almost totally unaccessible, would mean a resumption of the pathogenic evolution and a progression of the symptoms and handicap.

R explains that a return home would be equivalent to ‘a slow death for him’, that the treatment he gets here does not exist in Armenia and that substitutes are neither adapated nor accessible.

In October 2015, lawyers, jurists, doctors, and social assistants were denouncing in a White paper the more and more restrictive interpretation of the criteria for the obtention of a residence permit for medical reasons in Belgium and they demanded ‘a law enforcement that would respect the human rights of seriously ill foreigners.’ Today, we notice that nothing has changed. The treatments given in our ‘civilised’ countries are only available to privileged citizens.

On 13 December, Belgium was condemned again by the European Court of Human Rights for inhuman and degrading treatment. This time, the victim was a Georgian man who was seriously ill, deported to his country of origin while his family was in Belgium.

These convictions multiply themselves but do not change a thing to the repressive policy of Belgium who plans again to deport a seriously ill person to a future of sufferings.

Let’s prevent the deportation of this family. Let’s meet at the airport and explain their case on Monday 19 December 5.25 p.m. at the check-in and/or boarding.

Flight to Warsaw (with stop over) LO 234 19h25

faxes, calls and emails to the people responsible for these criminal deportations

The airline
Polish Airlines
tel + 32 78 180 014 Open 24 h E-mail lot_info@lot.pl

and our ministers
F.Roosemont
Foreigners Office director
Bur_Presse@dofi.fgov.be
T02793 80 31 (NL – EN) – 02 79380 30 (FR), Fax 02 274 66 40

Charles Michel
Prime Minister

Tél: 02 501 02 11 Fax:02512 69 52
e-mail:charles.michel@premier.fed.be

Jan Jambon
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal affairs
tél:02 504 85 13 Fax:02 504 85 00
email:kabinet.jambon@ibz.fgov.be

Theo Francken
State Secretary for Asylum and Migration
Tél: 02 206 1421–
theo.francken@n-va.be
kab.francken@ibz.fgov.be

Didier Reynders
Téléphone : 02 501 8591
E-mailcontact.reynders@diplobel.fed.be