Getting the voice out joins this appeal published on
https://stuut.info/Appel-a-Rassemblement-a-Jumet-le-10-Avril-stop-aux-Centres-Fermes-3504
Let’s get together this Wednesday 10 April (17:30), to oppose the construction of a new closed centre in Jumet, in the Charleroi region.
Neither here nor there: no closed centre in Jumet!
Every year, between 6,000 and 8,500 people are detained in Belgium’s 6 closed centres, simply because they have not received a valid residence permit. The reason for this deprivation of liberty is purely administrative. These are people who have come to Belgium in search of better opportunities, or to escape precarious or violent situations in their countries of origin. They may also be people who have lived in Belgium for years (sometimes decades) and have built their lives here. These people are often exploited, underpaid and forced to live in difficult conditions. They are simply asking for their administrative situation to be regularised, so that they can live and work in Belgium like any other citizen.
Instead of supporting and protecting them, the Belgian state subjects them to inhumane prison conditions: high fences, body searches, restricted visits, disciplinary measures, locked doors, isolation, constant surveillance, etc. Closed centres are prisons in disguise. To be detained there is to have your most fundamental rights taken away from you. Detention takes place without any transparency, in remote areas out of sight. This repressive and organised migration policy is supported by the Belgian government. Building new centres, increasing deportations, extending administrative detention, reducing the number of reception places in open centres… For decades, the government has been fuelling a climate of fear and discrimination against people without papers.
In 2022, the federal government approved the Closed Centres Masterplan, which means that a total of three new closed centres and one departure centre could be built in Belgium. One of the new centres for illegal residents would be in Jumet. Previously rejected by the local authorities of Charleroi (PS), this project finally received their support and will be defended by Paul Magnette. Planning permission for the project in Jumet was submitted this year, and the necessary steps have already been taken. The estimated completion date is 2028.
Together, let’s show our disagreement: no closed centre should be built in Jumet, either here or anywhere else!
For a world without borders and without prisons!
When will it happen? Wednesday 10 April, at 17:30
Where: Rue Dr. Pircard (Jumet)
Rally co-organised by CIEP-MOC, FGTB-Cenforsoc, CSC, Vie Féminine, JOC, Charleroi Solidarité-Migrants
