3071-The political economy of new slavery

80 The Belgian Counter-trafficking Policy
Another trafficking mechanism is the phenomenon of fake marriages,
often used as a means to legalize the stay of migrants. The Civil Code
was amended pointing out that if circumstances showed that one of
the two spouses had clearly no intention to build up a communal life
but was seeking advantage to legalize his or her stay through marriage,
the marriage should not be considered as legal. In the same regard,
a directive provided local authorities with the option to refuse a marriage
between a Belgian citizen and a foreigner if there is a reasonable doubt
that the aim of the marriage was to legalize the stay of the foreigner.
Moreover, a circular provided local authorities with specific indicators
on how to detect whether a marriage is genuine or fake.
In order to combat the abuse of the political asylum procedure,
often used by trafficking gangs, the Belgian government took several
measures to enhance a more efficient collaboration and information
exchange between the police services, the services of social inspection,
the services of the inspection of labour law, the Immigration Office and
the Commissariat-General for Refugees and Stateless Persons. Furthermore,
the government issued specific measures to make the asylum
procedure less prone to abuse.
Today the phenomenon of non-accompanied minors has become
an important problem in Belgium (De Pauw et al., 2002; IOM, 2001).
In order to counter this phenomenon, the Minister of Justice issued
a circular on the recognition of the principle of relief and assistance
shelters for non-accompanied minors (Belgian Statute Book, 2002),
which followed the circular of the Minister of Home Affairs concerning
the identification file and the information form regarding the notifications
of non-accompanied minors (Belgian Statute Book, 2002).
In particular the ministries of Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs are
involved with this administrative pillar. In the first place, there is the
Immigration Office of the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is responsible
for the centralization, treatment and follow-up of all foreigners’ dossiers
in general, and of victims of trafficking in human beings in particular.
The Immigration Office issues temporary residence permits, during the
period of the investigation, to the victims of trafficking in human beings.
Therefore, the office co-operates with the police agencies involved,
justice departments and the specialized shelters for the assistance of
the victims. The Immigration Office also acts as a contact point for joint
initiatives within the EU and for specific initiatives with third countries.
Finally, the office is also involved in the implementation of bilateral
agreements on police co-operation about illegal immigration and
trafficking in human beings. In this respect, the Belgian government