Controversy has erupted in Belgium over a measure that authorizes the detention of migrant families with children as they await repatriation. Meanwhile, the government has announced new tougher controls on its trains to identify "passeurs", those who move migrants through Belgium.
A new law that came into effect in Belgium last Saturday has brought controversy with it. The measure authorizes the detention of migrant families with children who are awaiting repatriation. Associations, NGOs, and left-wing movements have spoken out against the new law.
Co-president of the progressive party Ecolo, Zakia Khattabi, has called on the Belgian government of Prime Minister Charles Michel to respect the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Practice was halted in 2009
Belgium had stopped the process of detaining minors in 2009, following a conviction by the European Court of Human Rights. For the new measure, four family units (with a total of 28 places) have already been set up in a detention center in Steenokkerzeel, near the Zaventem airport in Brussels. The housing units are for families awaiting repatriation, who were removed from open centers after being denied international protection.
Stronger checks on trains against passeurs
Meanwhile, the government has announced a new strengthening of controls against migrants transiting from one country to another. Interior Minister Jan Jambon said there will be new police controls, utilizing special teams, on trains in service to Brussels. Ministry spokesman Olivier Van Raemdonck told the Belgian press agency that the government is specifically taking aim at "passeurs", who move migrants from one place to the next, in transfers towards Great Britain. The migrants who are stopped in the checks will be transferred to detention centers, prior to their removal.