Author
Asylum applicants who arrive at the border are systematically detained before being allowed to enter the territory (see Border detention).[1] Asylum applicants can also in certain specific cases be detained during their procedure and in the context of the Dublin procedure (see Grounds for detention). In 2023, the population in the detention centres consisted of 84% men and 16% women in the following procedural situation: 35% persons detained in the context of a border procedure, 11% persons detained in the context of a Dublin procedure or bilateral agreement between EU Member States, 54% undocumented persons.[2] No data on the number of asylum applicants in administrative detention in 2024 is yet available at the time of writing (March 2025). In 2024, 753 persons applied for asylum at the border.
Belgium has a total of 6 detention centres, commonly referred to as ‘closed centres’, with a total capacity of 535 at the end of 2023:[3] the 127bis repatriation centre; the ‘Caricole’ near Brussels Airport; and 4 ‘Centres for Illegal Aliens’ – as the authorities define them – located in Bruges (CIB), in Merksplas near Antwerp (CIM), in Vottem near Liège (CIV) and in Holsbeek (near Leuven).[4] In addition to the Caricole building, there are also some smaller Centres for Inadmissible Passengers (INAD centres) in the five regional airports that are Schengen border posts, that consist of waiting rooms at the police station from where persons can be brought to Caricole.[5] Unlike the open reception centres, the detention centres fall under the authority of the Immigration Office.
The government decided on 14 May 2017 to maximise the number of places in existing detention facilities through what was named the ‘Master Plan’. In 2019, the open reception centre (Holsbeek) has thus been turned into a closed centre for 50 women; in practice, the capacity is limited to 28 women. The government coalition, that was inaugurated on 1 October 2020, confirmed the construction of additional places. With the construction of two additional detention centres in Zandvliet (144 places) and Jumet (200 places), the construction of a new centre in Jabbeke (112 places) as replacement for the centre in Bruges,[6] and the creation of a new quick-departure centre in Steenokkerzeel,[7] the total detention capacity in Belgium should amount to 1,145 places in 2030.[8] The building works for the departure centre in Steenokkerzeel have not started yet as of the beginning of the year 2025 and the planning regarding the realisation of the three centres in Zandvliet, Jumet and Jabbeke remains unclear.
[1] The Immigration Office, in the context of its right to reply to the 2023 and 2024 AIDA update, notes that in the context of asylum applications at the border, every case is treated and any detention decision taken, on an individual basis. In case a person is detained when applying for asylum at the border, this is not because they have applied for asylum but because they don’t meet the entry requirements. Civil society organisations, however, observe that by far every person applying for asylum at the border is detained and this based on a decision that contains a mostly standardized motivation. This issue has been confirmed by the Committee Against Torture (CAT): ‘Although the State party explained that minors and their families are not detained at the border, the Committee remains concerned that almost all other applicants for international protection are detained, under Article 74/5 of the Aliens Act, and that this practice is accepted by the Constitutional Court, which considers it necessary for effective border control (decision of 25 February 2021). However, the Committee notes that Article 74/5 of the Aliens Act is intended to transpose into national law Directive 2013/33/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013, which allows for the detention of applicants only when it proves necessary and on the basis of an individual assessment of each case, if other less coercive measures cannot be applied effectively. The Committee also recalls that the European Court of Human Rights considered the practice of automatic detention at borders in the case Thimothawes v. Belgium and ruled that the routine detention of asylum applicants without an individual assessment of their specific needs was problematic (arts. 11 and 16).’ See CAT, Concluding observations on the fourth periodic report of Belgium, 25 August 2021, available in English at https://tinyurl.com/bdd43ky8, §29. It is also confirmed by the Belgian Refugee Council Nansen: ‘NANSEN remarque que la mesure de détention ne contient pas de motivation concernant la vulnérabilité dans des cas spécifiques. De plus, aucune évaluation individuelle systématique n’a lieu avant de procéder à la détention ou à la prolongation de la détention, pour déterminer si les principes de proportionnalité et de nécessité sont respectés’: Nansen, Vulnerabilities in detention : motivation of detention titles, November 2020, available in French here.
[2] Immigration Office, Activity report 2023, available in French here (p. 89) and in Dutch here (p. 86).
[3] For an overview, see Getting the Voice Out, ‘What are the detention centres in Belgium?’, available here.
[4] The capacity in the detention centres is 120 in the 127bis repatriation centre, 114 in Caricole, 112 in Bruges, 142 in Merksplas, 119 in Vottem, and 50 in Holsbeek. Data available on the website of the Immigration Office (in Dutch here and in French here), consulted on 25 March 2025.
[5] Myria, ‘Regional INAD-centres and fundamental rights of migrants’, June 2013, available in Dutch here.
[6] The Government had announced the replacement of the centre in Bruges, as the condition of the current centre is deemed ‘very bad’ (Chamber of Representatives, Policy Note on asylum and migration, 4 November 2020, available in Dutch and French at: https://bit.ly/3sJdgMd, 34).
[7] A proposal to create a new short-stay departure centre in Steenokkerzeel (next to 127bis and Caricole) was made which, according to the government, would make removals more ‘humane, comfortable and safe’ and promote better care for people who need to be repatriated swiftly.
[8] As the Secretary of State announced on his website, 22 March 2022, available in Dutch and French, available at: https://bit.ly/35n68ht.