22/09/2015
How not to be ashamed to be Belgian when seeing the practices by our government and its administration?
In front of this refugees crisis, no humankind, no justice; only a policy that is as hypocritical as abject.
Its main and only goal – that seems to justify the most repugnant methods- is to spread the message across our borders: ‘Don’t come to Belgium, you will be persecuted the same as your brothers and sisters. Go somewhere else!’.
How does this policy translate into facts, how does this terror campaign, invisible in the media, organise itself?
Several dozens of Iraqis were arrested at the Foreigners Office and directly sent behind the bars of the 127bis and Caricole closed centres. Isolation, the harshness of imprisonment and the detention conditions there have been denounced for a long time by lots of associations, notably the Comitee for the Prevention of Torture.
The CGRA announced the freezing of decisions related to Iraqis’ asylum requests following the installation of lots of asylum seekers, mainly Iraqis, in the Maximilien Parc.
At the same time, the Minister Francken and his administration were launching a campaign on the theme ‘Bagdad seems to be safe again, we should be able to send back refugees there’.
Other communications by the governement and the Office or the CGRA also insisted on alleged ‘voluntary returns’ and on deportations of Iraqi refugees according to the Dublin convention, with the aim of terrorising the refugees, letting them think that may be soon they could be sent back to the hell they fled.
What could be more deterrent to all those who would not yet have introduced their asylum request with the Office?
Outraged at their arbitrary and inexplicable imprisonment, put under pressure and fooled by the democratic image of our government, the detained Iraqis stood up. We can but understand them.
A movement of protest arose in the closed centres, and the Iraqis were very quickly joined by other detainees, some imprisoned for long periods (up to 8 months), sometimes with their wife and/or child(ren) in Belgium. They grained a certain anger, too often dull, that is still roaring in closed centres. A hunger strike was started, rebellion moves too, like the refusal to regain their cells after the walk hour.
http://www.gettingthevoiceout.org/update-127bis-21092015/
Here again, the Foreigners Office, helped by the management of the centres, has shown methods that can only be called a banana regime.
Simply disgusting…
Our administration also showed an alleged ‘comprehension’ of the Iraqis’ situation, and then, seen the spreading of the movement, they proposed each community to appoint a spokesperson in order to ‘facilitate dialogue’.
These spokespersons could express themselves in front of the few demonstrators and cameras present.
But don’t see any evidence of openmindedness in this behaviour, it is only about manipulation:
ALL the spokespersons of the Iraqis, Moroccans, Tunisians, Algerians, Syrians, etc. were then placed in confinement cells and transferred to other cells, in other closed centres.
As far as we know, this concerns (at least) the centres of Bruges and Merksplas.
Their phone access is limited to 30 minutes a day. Caring? No. Fear of condemnation in front of the European Court of Human Rights? Probably…
Our government conducts an odious and barbaric policy towards all the so-called democratic values.
Its administration uses immoral methods, worthy of totalitarian regimes.
Most of the media merely interpret their polished communications, renouncing to the least work of investigation that is the basis of journalism though.
It is time it stopped.
It is time we acted for it to stop, and for those odious practices and manipulations to be denounced.
It is time we stood up like the detainees who dared doing it in the centre.
If we don’t do anything, we too will have blood on our hands.
