Belgium's largest human trafficking case still troubles workers from Türkiye, other countries

In the summer of 2022, possibly the biggest human trafficking case Europe has ever seen came to light, Klaus Vanhoutte, head of Payoke, an NGO fighting against human trafficking, states.

Some 174 workers said that they were victims of human trafficking by the chemical company Borealis in Antwerp, Belgium. Among the victims are 17 people from Bengal, 52 from Philipinnes, and 105 from Türkiye. By August, 138 of the workers were attributed the stature of being a victim of human trafficking.

In 2019, Borealis, a European chemical industry giant, invested around 1 billion euros in a new propylene factory scheduled to open in the middle of 2022 in the port of Antwerp. Propylene is a raw material that is used to make plastics.

When Payoke received eight complaints of possible human trafficking; an investigation was launched. Subsequently, at the beginning of July this year, the Belgian social inspection and police discovered 174 victims of human trafficking. The workers were heavily exploited, receiving only about 600 euros a month while working more than 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. Many were illegal in the country because their work permits had expired. Furthermore, many had entered Europe via Hungary and Poland, where they had received a temporary work permit.

"Worse than Qatar"

In a recent interview with Belgian News Magazine Knack, one of the workers from Bangladesh explained that he felt treated like a slave. He expressed that while there is a lot of critique in Belgium on how foreign workers were mistreated during the construction of football stadiums in Qatar, they have been treated worse than their colleagues in Qatar.

The workers were not employed by Borealis itself but by its subcontractor French-Italian Subcontractor IREM-Ponticelli who contracted partners. According to the lawyer of the exploited workers, Jan Buelens, this is a typical outsourcing story, as Borealis outsources most of its operations to other subcontractors like the Irem. IREM has another called "IREM General Contracting" and they used the Turkish company Ankitech, which employed workers from Türkiye.

Borealis has been aware of the issues since April. However, they did not terminate their contract with IREM until the situation started appearing in the media at the end of July.

In a recent statement on the human trafficking allegations, Ankitech denied involvement and claimed that they did not cause the problems. Stating that they follow a corporate policy that takes care of their laborers and that the workers were paid a corresponding legal wage. They indicated that Italian-origin IREM requested specialist workers for an industrial construction to be built for Borealis in Antwerp in 2021. Ankitech stated that the contract was submitted to the Belgian authorities after signing with the company.

Temporary work permits

Fifty of the 174 foreign workers exploited by a Borealis subcontractor found work almost immediately with a BASF subcontractor. But the social inspectorate found fraud there too.

The 105 workers from Türkiye became unemployed but received temporary residence. Bayram Gümüş, one of the workers, described this success as incomplete. He indicated that Ukrainian, Bangladeshi and Filipino workers, were given an Orange Card, which provides unlimited residence and work permits.

According to Gümüş, they were given an Annex 51, which provides the right to stay for 60 days. Gümüş remarked that about 30 of the 104 workers returned to Türkiye and said that the rest of the workers were looking for a job in Belgium. The majority of them found a job "on paper." Early in October, social affairs alderman Meeuws indicated that the Belgium Labor Prosecutor's Office will probably not grant 75 Turks the status of victims of human trafficking. As they highly likely were paid accordingly. However, the alderman also stated that they are working on a solution for them.

"Perfect Flat"

Bayram Gümüş commented that they still stay at the place allocated to them by Ankitech. According to Belgian Daily De Tijd, currently, eight of the workers from Türkiye stay in 'Residence Renée'. Described as "a home away from home" by real estate company 'Perfect Flat'.

However, the apartment building is in terrible condition. With worn and closed curtains, damaged letterboxes in the entrance hall, and broken lights in the stairwell. The social inspectorate recently sealed several apartments in the Renée residence.

Opposite the Renée residence, there is an apartment building, also owned by Perfect Flat, which was evacuated in July due to fire safety deficiencies. The building housed 18 Bengal, Romania and Ukraine workers who also worked in the Borealis factory.

Ethics Hotline

The Borealis factory was closed, but in October, work resumed at the Borealis factory. Borealis is furthermore opening up a new factory that should be ready in the second half of 2024.

The chemical giant stated that it found the social malpractice totally unacceptable and indicated that it took measures, such as an ethical hotline. Borealis employees and outside personnel can report ethical concerns in 24 languages. Additionally, there is stricter control over their contractors and subcontractors. Each contractor and subcontractor must also sign a binding declaration in advance, confirming that they comply with the Belgian laws on labor, social security and taxes. (WM/VK)