aedh | 27.09.2017
Théo Francken, Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, called on Sudanese agents to carry out identification checks in the Maximilian Park in Brussels, where many migrants found ‘refuge’. The European Association for the Defense of Human Rights (AEDH) strongly condemns the resort to Sudanese agents at the service of President Omar Hassan Ahmad el Bashir dictatorial regime, who is himself under two international arrest warrants for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The identification of Sudanese nationals and the following forced returns endanger the lives of these individuals and their families. This situation is not only worrying but unacceptable as it contradicts, among others, Article 19 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The article provides that no one may be removed, expelled or extradited to a State where there is a serious risk that he or she would be subjected to the death penalty, torture or other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. AEDH calls on the Belgian government to immediately end these undue, unjust and illegal practices and urges the governments of all Member States concerned to also immediately cease their collaboration with the Sudanese dictatorship.