In 2023, the CGRS launched a project focusing on aspects related to the physical and/or mental health of applicants for international protection.
The project focuses on the participation of applicants with physical and/or mental vulnerabilities in the asylum procedure in general and in the personal interview in particular. It also addresses aspects related to the substantive assessment of the need for international protection for this target group. The project examines how the CGRS can strengthen and improve its approach to this.
Working hypotheses and possibilities currently being explored within the project:
- early identification of applicants with medical and psychic vulnerabilities and facilitating the provision of information about them;
- offering additional training and tools to protection officers in order to fill possible gaps in the existing offer;
- The practical elaboration of the possibility for the CGRS, in certain cases, to request medical recommendations regarding the applicant's capability of being interviewed from a competent healthcare professional appointed for this purpose, as well as to order a forensic medical examination in case of indications of persecution or serious harm.
This project is co-funded by the AMIF (Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund) and will run until the end of 2025.
The first initiative launched by the CGRS concerns recommendations on medical elements in the asylum procedure. Indeed, in practice, it appears that medical elements submitted to the CGRS as part of the asylum procedure are not always sufficiently clear or complete. This prevents them from actually contributing to the applicant’s interest or the assessment and decision making in the asylum procedure. Often, this involves medical certificates that are submitted to the protection officer during or after the personal interview.
The CGRS has therefore drawn up a series of recommendations and tips on the form and content of medical documents submitted to the CGRS. These recommendations are communicated to various external stakeholders, in particular to professionals in the (mental) health sector who report medical findings as part of the asylum procedure. The recommendations also contain a brief explanation of the role and competences of the CGRS as part of the Belgian asylum procedure, as well as the possible relevance of medical elements in this context.
These recommendations are an initiative and a product of the CGRS and, among other things, the result of consultations with various entities such as the Superior Health Council and the Fedasil medical service. They aim to better address the specific procedural needs of applicants for international protection and to assist the CGRS in processing and assessing each application equally.
You can find the recommendations (in Dutch or French) as well as Frequently Asked Questions (in Dutch or French). For any further questions about this AMIF project or the initiative regarding the recommendations, please contact the vulnerability project team at the following e-mail address: cgra-cgvs.vulnerability@ibz.be.
