Brussels, 30/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 27 March, the European Parliament criticised the denial of temporary visas to four Yezidi women by the Belgian Office for Aliens. The four women were due to take part in a meeting of the European Parliament delegation on relations with Iraq on Thursday 26 March.
According to Belgian newspaper Libre Belgique, the staff of European Parliament President Martin Schulz criticised the incident as “absolutely scandalous”.
In the view of David Campbell Bannerman MEP (ECR, UK), the chair of the Parliament's delegation on relations with Iraq, the decision of the Belgian authorities was completely senseless. “Bureaucracy before bravery”, he regretted in a press statement, saying that he could not imagine the courage these four Yezidi women had needed to propose coming to speak publicly about the atrocities they were facing at the hands of Islamic State. Campbell Bannerman said he was going to ask Belgium's foreign minister, Didier Reynders, to explain the reasons why these visas were denied and to take suitable measures to avoid such an occurrence in the future.
The Aliens Office informed the European Parliament of this visa denial on 24 March. According to the Libre Belgique, there was reportedly a “migratory risk”. The official in charge of the case at the Belgian Office for Aliens complained that he was not able to reach those responsible for the matter at the European Parliament on the phone. (Camille-Cerise Gessant)