Paris, Mar 18 (IANS): Irregular migrants held in France's administrative detention centres (CRA) in 2021 suffered "abusive, disproportionate and indiscriminate" confinement, according to an annual report.

Five French NGOs monitoring the country's CRAs made the allegation in their annual report, Xinhua news agency reported citing the local daily Le Figaro as saying on Thursday.

"Many people were placed in the CRAs in 2021 without the essential discernment that must necessarily intervene before deciding on a measure of deprivation of liberty," Le Figaro cited the organizations as saying.

According to the newspaper, France was the leading country in Europe in terms of issuing deportation orders.

In 2021, the country detained 42,353 irregular migrants. Of them, 26,485 were detained in the French overseas territory of Mayotte.

In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021 and the closure of borders, the organisations denounced the "uselessness" of the expulsion measures.

During the pandemic, France's overcrowded detention centres turned into Covid-19 clusters, the organisations said.

They denounced that the "logic of confinement prevailed over strict respect for barrier measures" as the CRAs wanted to "lock up at all costs".

According to the Ministry of Interior, 10,091 people were forcibly removed from French territory in 2021.