Geneva Convention open to reinterpretation

In a resolution that was carried by a large majority in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, an overture has been made to reinterpret the Geneva Convention. To be precise, the criteria for recognising refugees, as provided for in the 1951 Refugee Convention, as well as the definition of a safe third country, should be subject to reinterpretation, the Assembly thinks. In doing so, this advisory body to the Council of Europe thereby endorses the opinion of N-VA Chairman Bart De Wever. He was the first to advocate such a revision in September 2015 during a guest lecture at Ghent University.

The recognition of refugees as such was not called into question during that lecture. However, Bart De Wever did have serious misgivings about the consequences of the recognition of refugee status, as it is set out in the existing Convention. After all, the geopolitical context in which that international treaty was drawn up is no longer the same today. Bart De Wever literally stated that, “not only must our own laws be less hospitable towards refugees, the international precepts must be changed as well. The Geneva Convention must be revised.” It was a statement that caused a great outcry at the time, but which now seems to held by a large majority in Europe.

Can no longer be explained

“A great many countries are confronted with the fact that there is no longer an explanation for why recognised refugees are automatically and immediately granted all social rights, even when they haven’t contributed to Social security Social security is currently managed at the Federal level in Belgium. The most important pillars of Belgian social security are: sickness and invalidity insurance (NIDHI), pensions, unemployment insurance and child allowances. In addition, occupational illness, occupational accidents and annual holidays are dealt with at this level. Some Flemish parties have been campaigning for years for (large parts of) social security to be transferred to the Regions and Communities. social security ,” says MP Daphné Dumery, who also serves in the Parliamentary Assembly. “The Geneva Convention does not allow, so to speak, for any difference to be made between a country’s own population and the recognised refugees. That is now being called into question.”