Brussels, 22/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - The conditions in which foreigners without the right paperwork are detained in secure detention centres ('centres fermés') in Belgium fail to meet the normal basic rights granted to illegal immigrants, according to a delegation of four MEPs who recently visited Centre 127 (Melsbroek, next to the former military airport), 127bis (Steenokkerzeel, near the airport runway) and INAD (in Zaventem Airport). French Socialist MEP Martine Roure, the head of the EP delegation, explained at a press conference on 18 October that the rights of individuals are being flouted. She highlighted the lack of required documentation and little access to interpreters for people who do not speak French or Dutch. At Centre 127, the MEPs saw that children were also being detained. Roure said the MEPs saw the imprisonment of children as unacceptable. They slammed the lack of suitable structures for children, who are forced to live in an adult environment, often for months on end, thereby risking causing the children psychological damage. She added that it was aberrant that European citizens (Poles and Romanians) were also detained in these centres. Roure pointed out, however, that unlike centres the MEPs had visited in other countries (Malta, Ceuta and Melilla, Lampedusa), the centres in Belgium were clean and orderly, although lacking in space. We are well aware that these are not holiday camps, said Giusto Catania (Italy, GUE), adding that the centres were orderly. He added that every individual has the right to be kept informed in a language they understand, giving the example of French-speaking immigrants from North Africa who had been given documents in Dutch. He also mentioned the Belgian authorities' lack of openness about deportations and the detention of foreigners, particularly cases of foreigners deported not to their country of origin but rather to transit countries like Libya. (B.C.)