NATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

 

BELGIUM

 

  • Forced administration of droperidol to non psychotic detained migrants

The Belgian Medical Council has issued a detailed advice on forced administration of droperidol (trade name DHBP) to non psychotic detained migrants.

The Belgian Medical Council stresses that the Royal Decree on the functioning of detention centres contains a limitative list of coercive measures that are authorised, and that forced administration of drugs does not belong to this list. Explicit consent has to be given by the patient, in conformity with the law on the rights of the patient. The full text of the advice is available in French and in Dutch.

 

 

  • Age determination for unaccompanied minors

The Belgian Medical Council has issued a detailed advice on the conditions in which an ‘age determination test’ can be performed on persons claiming to be unaccompanied minors.

Radiation can only be performed with caution. Radiation must be as low and as quick as possible. Interpretation requires a specific expertise. The doubt will always have to benefit to the person claiming to be a minor. Radiation can only be ethically justified if it offers more advantages than disadvantages. A balance of interests needs to be done between approximate age determination and the risks for the health of the person. In any case, the test cannot be performed without the person consenting to it. Consent needs to be well-informed and explicit. The assistance of a tutor or a reference person is important. The result of the test can be transmitted directly to the authorities. The full text of the advice is available in French and in Dutch.

 

 

UNITED KINGDOM

  • UK: Children’s Commissioner condemns treatment of detained children

Detaining children in an immigration detention centre is "extremely distressing and harmful", according to a highly critical report on the conditions in the Yarl’s Wood Immigration centre published by the Children's Commissioner for England. The report highlights a number of problems in the Yarl’s Wood centre where more than 1,000 children are held every year. These include a failure to assess "even at an elementary level" the general psychological wellbeing of a child on arrival and a failure to recognise psychological harm when faced with dramatic changes in a child's behaviour. The UK Border Agency dismissed the report as “misguided and wrong” and insisted that they take the detention of families “very seriously” and use it only as a last resort. In response to the findings, Donna Covey, Chief Executive of the UK Refugee Council, said that: “These are children we are talking about. It is unacceptable that they are detained at all. Even if all the Commissioner’s recommendations about procedure were followed to the letter, there is no escaping the harm that is caused by locking children up.”

Source: ECRE Weekly Bulletin, 19 February 2010

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