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'They want me to fly like a bird': travels in the Belgian asylum system

Syrian refugees are in the news, but Europe is full of other refugees. They languish in centres while they wait for decisions, then trying again after they are almost certainly refused.

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A group of Afghan refugees in Belgium. GUE/NGL/Flickr. (CC 2.0 by-nc-nd)

A four year old sits on a double bunk bed, his legs tucked under, assiduously scrubbing his remote controlled car with a nail brush. His older brother is cross-legged in front of a small television, watching Japanese cartoons dubbed into Dutch. Their father Andrei, scruffy beard filling out his gaunt face, offers us tea. We’re squatting on small square stools around a small square table in the small square room this father and his two sons temporarily call home.

It’s like a great game of Snakes and Ladders, except there are snakes on almost every square.