Submitted by crinadmin on
Vassili, Trésor and Angélica have in common that they are children, immigrants and that they live in Belgium with their families. All three were woken in the middle of the night by police, taken to the police station and locked up. Imprisoned without committing any crime, they have spent between 10 and 79 days in the closed detention centres of Melsbroek, Steenokkerzeel or Merksplas. Those who were lucky were released after many efforts and proceedings, keeping only deep psychological scars. The others were expelled. Every year, about 8,000 people are detained in closed detention centres, of which an ever increasing number are children, such as Vassili, Trésor and Angélica. Indeed, while more than 150 children were detained in 2004, their number exceeded 500 the following year, 600 in 2006 and 700 in the beginning of 2008. Many studies attest to the unacceptability of this situation. In 1999, an academic study discussed this practice of "psychological ill-treatment": “… from the perspective of the child’s rights and well-being, detaining families with children is unacceptable under the present circumstances in closed detention centres...the fact that several centres are prison-like and inappropriate for children (barbed wire, uniformed personnel, fixed daily schedule, ...), the impossibility to move freely in the buildings and the outdoor premises, the lack of privacy, the lack of space or daylight, the impossibility for families to live an autonomous life with the necessary moments of intimacy, …”. Fortunately, however, civil society and part of the political world are beginning to hear the criticisms. For example, a bill based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (ratified by Belgium) and on the results of a study showing the adverse effects of detention on child development has been submitted in order to prohibit the detention of minors in closed detention centres. According to the two senators who proposed this bill (Groen! and Ecolo – the Dutch- and French-speaking green political parties), the creation of a specialised open centre for families could be a solution. Another initiative is the establishment of an "Opinion Court" prosecuting the Belgian state for the detention of children in closed detention centres. After holding its sessions on 17 and 18 January, the Court gave its verdict on 19 January. The state was symbolically convicted of a breach of Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child stating that the detention of children should be used only as a measure of last resort, "which is clearly not the case in closed detention centres ". The judge was also astonished by the fact that adults and children were staying together in these centres, a practice which is harmful for the child's development and which has already been denounced by the European Court of Human Rights in 2006. Finally, he expressed his disappointment that the Government was not present at its own trial. The latter denounced through the Minister of Home Affairs, M. Patrick Dewael, the lack of legal basis, impartiality and independence of the Court. But can an Opinion Court be blamed for reflecting… an opinion? In less than a year we will celebrate the 20th birthday of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. We want our politicians to make a gesture in order to, first, deal with the emergency by adapting the structure and the functioning of closed detention centres, and then, more importantly, to find structural solutions to ensure that minors, whether they are accompanied or not, are no longer detained in this way. Original version in French: Further information
http://www.campuspleinsud.org/doc/centres_fermes_mineurs.doc
Owner: Translated by Valentine De Muylderpdf: http://www.campuspleinsud.org/doc/centres_fermes_mineurs.doc