22 Europe and Central Asia Summary of Amnesty International’s Concerns in the Region, January – June 2007 spokesperson for UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, has raised concerns that the new procedures are more formalised than the previous process, rely more heavily on written submissions and have shorter submission deadlines. As a result, asylumseekers may be at greater need of specialist legal representation which, particularly in the case of those held in detention centres, can be difficult to obtain. The new law also increases the grounds on which asylum-seekers can be held in detention. The new law has also been criticised by human rights organisations, particularly those working with migrants, for failing to address the problems of irregular migrants seeking regularisation of their status. According to figures cited in the press, the number of asylum demands fell by 27 per cent in 2006 compared to 2005, to produce a total of 14,648. This is the lowest figure in 15 years and follows a consistent falling tendency seen since 2000. There are estimated to be around 100,000 irregular migrants in Belgium. According to media reports 16 of the Afghan asylum-seekers occupying the Minimes church in Brussels (believed to be between 60 and 100 people in total) went on hunger strike in March, protesting at the difference in treatment of Afghan asylumseekers arriving before and after 2003. Those arriving before 2003 had been entitled to a renewable six-month residence permit which was frequently replaced by permits of undetermined duration after two years. Those arriving after 2003 were not entitled to such measures, although they still had the right to seek asylum. The hunger strike ceased after assurances were given that their claims for asylum and/or subsidiary protection would be heard. AI does not have any further information on whether their asylum claims were accepted. In June, the case of an Iraqi couple seeking asylum in Belgium came to public attention. In December 2004 they fled Iraq, describing how they had suffered death threats as a result of sectarian conflict, and travelled to Greece where they were Amnesty International detained for three months on the grounds of illegal entry. They applied for asylum, but this was rejected in the first instance decision. They were unable to appeal because Greece has suspended all decisionmaking on Iraqi cases at the appeal level since 2003. They were ordered to leave the country. In November 2005, the couple travelled to Belgium, where their son was living legally. On arrival they applied for asylum and were held in detention by the Belgian authorities, who argued that Greece was responsible for their asylum claim under the so-called Dublin II Regulation, which establishes criteria and mechanisms for determining which European Union (EU) state will examine an asylum application. The Belgian authorities sent the couple back to Greece, where they were held for two weeks at the airport before being issued with an order to leave the territory on the grounds that their case had already been decided on and was closed. In 2007 they travelled to Belgium again and were detained upon arrival on February 7. UNHCR has called on the Belgian authorities to allow the couple to remain. On 8 June a final decision was made by the Belgian authorities and they were released from detention on 15 June. At the time of writing AI was not aware of whether they had been granted asylum or not. Children continued to be detained in closed centres for failed asylum-seekers and irregular migrants pending return to their country of origin. A study published in April, commissioned by the Minister of the Interior, concluded that such centres were not suitably equipped for the detention of children and that child-friendly family centres should be created. The report failed to analyse possible alternatives to detention for children. Discrimination On 20 June the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Against Racism (Centre pour l’égalité des chances et la lutte contre AI Index: EUR 01/010/2007