attributes to the General Inspectorate the power to make recommendations and request the application of the measures considered necessary to prevent and avoid accidents. An annual report on the monitoring carried out is presented, which lists the number of operations monitored, the coercive measures used, any violations of fundamental rights, complaints and recommendations. 18 In response to the questionnaire, the General Inspectorate reported some practices relating to the methods employed for carrying out the monitoring of forced return operations, and in particular: - The Immigration Department issues the expulsion order of the foreign citizen and sends it to the federal police, which organizes a return programme. Depending on the urgency and availability of the flight, the period between communication to the Inspectorate and the flight varies from a few days to a month; - Persons to be repatriated are not informed of the exact date of the flight. If they are in a condition of restriction of personal liberty, they must leave the country on a scheduled flight and with escort, or, if they are in a state of freedom, they are granted a deadline for voluntary departure; - The unit responsible for the removal is assisted by social workers and psychologists. For each return operation carried out with an escort there is a social worker during the preboarding and boarding phases; - The choice of operations to be monitored is based on parameters of vulnerability: families with children are always followed to their final destination and are accompanied by a social worker. Priority is also given to monitoring returns of people with mental or physical vulnerabilities, or people who need special attention. Another priority index relates to operations that present high risk of resistance or use of coercive measures; - Each operation is followed by two monitors. Cultural mediators or interpreters are not usually employed, as each monitor has language skills in English, French and German. The escort also includes agents who speak Arabic. The medical staff is not necessarily involved as there is a medical staff at the airport and, usually, a doctor is present during the flights of people who require special attention; - A detailed report is drawn up for each monitored return operation. This document is forwarded to the Ministry of the Interior, to the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration and to the Directorate of the Federal Police. The recommendations are instead sent to all these bodies separately. These institutions are obliged to provide an answer in this regard. Furthermore, a meeting is held at least once a year with each of the bodies involved in order to discuss the recommendations issued by the Inspectorate. For example, in 2017 monitoring was carried out on 57 pre-departure phases (until boarding) of scheduled flights, 4 complete scheduled flights in all their phases (to destination), 16 pre-departure phases (until boarding) of Special Flights and 14 complete Special Flights in all phases (to destination). (See Activity Report 2013-2017 Inspection générale de la Police Fédérale et de la Police Locale, available at the link https://www.police.be/aigpol/sites/default/files/downloads/2017AIG%20Rapport%20d%27%20Activit%C3%A9%202013%202017.pdf) 18