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The Experience of Undocumented Women and Children in Detention Centres in Belgium

Ill-Treatment or Torture?

Nouria Ouali    Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgique    

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abstract

The article examines one of the forms of state violence exercised on undocumented migrants in Belgium, in particular on women and children, since the introduction of their confinement in detention centres and their forced deportation in the late 1980s. The article concludes that regarding the norm of the intentionality of migration policies and the detrimental effects on the mental and physical health of children and women migrants, the recognising of these inhuman treatments as typical forms of torture of detention centres and their re-labelling as such would seem more consistent and realistic. The challenge of this re-labelling lies in the need to shift the moral and legal debate to the political one in order to question that form of migrants’ governmentality and policy unworthy of a democracy.

Published
Jan. 11, 2023
Accepted
May 3, 2022
Submitted
April 25, 2022
Language
EN
ISBN (PRINT)
978-88-6969-636-7
ISBN (EBOOK)
978-88-6969-635-0

Keywords: Detention centersUndocumented women and childrenDeportationTortureBelgium

Copyright: © 2023 Nouria Ouali. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.