Two children, aged 14 and 16, are currently being held at the detention centre in Bruges. No bone test, not even the facade of a procedure: just pure arbitrariness.
At the same time, we have been informed that another 17-year-old is being held in another centre, the 127bis in Steenokkerzeel.
The Belgian state, which committed in 2024 to banning the detention of children, is violating its own law without any remorse. And this is not an isolated case: we regularly report on the presence of minors in detention¹.
This practice is not a slip-up but a cold, racist, deliberate policy that crushes people to meet migration quotas.
The violence of detention should not be imposed on anyone, regardless of age, origin or personal history. But confinement in detention centres is even more violent and destructive for vulnerable people. We do not believe in our country’s immigration laws, but the Belgian state does not even respect its own laws.
BURN DOWN ALL DETENTION CENTRES
SHAME ON THE IMMIGRATION OFFICE
SHAME ON THE BELGIAN STATE
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