Indicator history

NGO mobilisations may have had the result of the Minister of Interior releasing persons detained for immigration related offenses. There could of course be other reasons for the release of these persons, such as pressure from the Council of Europe (CPT, ECRI) whose reports express concern over long detentions of persons arrested for immigration related offenses (unlawful stay, unlawful work) in unsuitable detention centres. NGO interventions have brought about the re-opening of the files of asylum seekers whose asylum applications were rejected because of the authorities' wrong assumption that they had changed address without informing the asylum unit. Generally speaking, NGO mobiliations have not had a significant impact on policies and in fact there are examples of such mobilisations having had a negative impact, in the form of the singling out of the migrants participating in the mobilisations who are then deported by the authorities. Interventions by the Ombudsman and by trade unions have had more significant impact as the relative strength of these institutions is much greater than that of NGOs.