The complaint was registered on 1 December 2023. It relates to Articles 16 (the right of the family to social, legal and economic protection), 30 (the right to protection against poverty and social exclusion) and Article E (non-discrimination) in conjunction with each of the relevant provisions of the revised European Social Charter. The complaint concerns the increasing number of municipal regulations prohibiting begging or restricting the right to beg in Belgium, stigmatising in particular persons belonging to the Roma community. The complainant organisations allege that, since there is no constitutional or legal provision enshrining the right to beg, Belgium has failed in its obligation to implement a comprehensive and coordinated approach to people forced to resort to begging and their families, who thus find themselves or risk finding themselves in a situation of persistent social exclusion or poverty, in breach of the aforementioned provisions of the Charter.  

​​ Case-document No. 1, Complaint registered on 1 December 2023  

 Case-document No. 2, Observations by the Government on admissibility (French only)   

 Case-document No. 3, Submissions of the Government on the merits (French only) 

The European Committee of Social Rights declared the complaint admissible on 14 May 2024.

 Decision on admissibility of the Complaint No. 233/2023