The Kingdom of Belgium signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 4 September 1998, becoming a State Party on 1 March 1999. Production of antipersonnel mines ceased in 1990 and was banned in 1995. Transfer was banned in 1993. In 1995, Belgium became the first country in the world to pass domestic legislation comprehensively banning antipersonnel mines, and subsequently amended this legislation to ensure full compliance with the Mine Ban Treaty. On 30 April 2012, Belgium submitted its 14^th Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report.

Belgium destroyed its stockpile of approximately 433,441 antipersonnel mines in September 1997.[1] By the end of 2011, Belgium retained 3,041 antipersonnel mines for training.[2]

Belgium served as co-rapporteur and then co-chair of the Standing Committees on the General Status and Operation of the Convention (1999–2001; 2004–2006), Mine Clearance (2001–2003), and Victim Assistance (2007–2009) and was president of the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in 2002.

Belgium initiated and continued to coordinate the Article 7 Contact Group in 2011 and 2012. Since June 2011, Belgium also served as coordinator of the Universalization Contact Group, taking over from Canada.

At the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in November-December 2011 and the intersessional meetings of the treaty in Geneva in May 2012, Belgium reported on progress made to promote the universality of the treaty, including in particular in Cambodia and Southeast Asia, Libya, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands; for this report, Belgium worked in cooperation with Prince Mired of Jordan, Ambassador Gazmend Turdiu of Albania (president of the Tenth Meeting of States Parties), the ICRC, and campaigners from the ICBL. Belgium reaffirmed that it used all opportunities to actively inform states not parties of the importance of joining the convention.[3]

Belgium also called attention to the importance of declarations condemning any use of antipersonnel mines, such as the two instances of use by states not party in 2011.[4] Belgium emphasized that “[u]sing landmines today is subject to immediate broad public condemnation. Countries outside of the Convention are becoming aware of the consequences of acting against an almost universal instrument of international humanitarian law.” Belgium further urged that “[w]e should seize every opportunity, for instance by calling upon newly installed governments to correct a negative public image that may have resulted from action undertaken under the previous regimes.”[5]

Belgium has continued in its national capacity to promote the universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty. In February 2012, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Didier Reynders, stated in parliament that general instructions had been issued for all Belgian diplomatic posts worldwide, including in producer countries Russia, China, and the United States, to support bilateral diplomacy and (where appropriate) to participate in any promotion of the Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Cluster Munitions.[6] In 2011 through the first half of 2012, Belgium promoted the treaties in the frameworks of the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Working Party on Global Disarmament and Arms Control within the European Union (CODUN), and through regional and bilateral initiatives.[7] 

At both the meetings of States Parties and the intersessional meetings, Belgium reported back on the work of the Article 7 Contact Group and on the status of submissions of transparency reports. At the intersessional meetings, Belgium noted with disappointment that as of 20 May 2012, only 61 out of 157 States Parties – or 38.8% – had submitted their annual reports, the lowest number since the treaty’s entry into force.[8]

In 2011 and 2012, Belgian civil society has been continuing its active support for the Mine Ban Treaty and strengthening its efforts on implementation, in particular with regards to victim assistance, disinvestment, funding, and transit of illegal weapons.[9]

Belgium is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.

Belgium has no known mined areas, though mines and unexploded ordnance from World War I and World War II are still found occasionally.

Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Kingdom of Belgium signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 22 December 2009. It was among the first 30 countries to ratify, triggering the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.

Belgium was the first country to legislate a ban through its law prohibiting the production, stockpiling, and trade of cluster munitions which took effect on 9 June 2006.[1] Belgium’s armed forces have military officers in each unit to advise commanders on the application of the law of armed conflict, including “obligations and restrictions” of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[2]

Belgium submitted its initial Article 7 report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 27 January 2011 and provided annual updated reports in 2012, 2013, and 30 April 2014.[3]

Belgium participated actively throughout the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions, hosting a regional conference on cluster munitions in October 2007.[4]

Belgium continued to play a leadership role in the work of the convention, particularly through its work as coordinator on transparency reporting. It has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, including the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. Belgium has attended all of the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva, including in April 2014.

At the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Belgium presented a working paper in its capacity as coordinator on transparency measures with recommendations for actions to improve both the quality and level of reporting by States Parties.[5] At the convention’s intersessional meetings, Belgium delivered a joint presentation with the CMC on specific recommendations for improving reporting on victim assistance.[6]

Promotion of the convention

Belgium has continued to actively promote the convention’s universalization and detailed its outreach in its 2014 Article 7 report. During 2013, Belgian diplomatic posts were instructed to issue demarches to European Union (EU) member states that are not yet party to the convention.

At the Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Belgium urged greater universalization efforts and suggested that military attaches from States Parties be tasked to promote the convention with their counterparts in states not party “to engage in convincing them to use alternative military capacities and totally give up the use of cluster munitions.”[7] Belgium said that it cooperates with other States Parties to ensure that universalization of the convention is on the agenda of each session of the EU Council’s working group on disarmament (CODUN).[8] Belgium reiterated that it will continue to undertake numerous demarches to promote the convention through its diplomatic network and emphasized the importance of “genuine cooperation and substantial partnerships” between governments, international organizations, and civil society on universalization.[9]

Belgium first expressed concern at Syria’s use of cluster munitions in October 2012 with a statement by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and European Affairs, Didier Reynders.[10] It has joined other states in publicly condemning the use of cluster munitions by Syrian government forces.[11] Belgium has also voted in favor of recent UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the cluster munition use, including Resolution 68/182 on 18 December 2013, which expressed “outrage” at Syria’s “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights…including those involving the use of…cluster munitions.”[12] CMC co-founder Handicap International (HI) and other Belgian NGOs also continued to denounce Syria’s use of cluster munitions in 2013 and 2014.[13]

Interpretive issues

Belgium has provided its views on a number of issues important to the interpretation and implementation of the convention.

Belgium has expressed its understanding that Article 21 of the convention, dealing with relations with states not party, prohibits States Parties from assisting others with use of cluster munitions during joint military operations. In a 2009 memorandum, Belgium stated, “In the case where a State Party engages in cooperation or military operations with States non-parties, a series of guaranties are provided: the cooperation or the military operation must be in conformity with international law; each State Party must notify non-states parties of its obligations under the Convention; it must promote the norms established by the Convention and discourage non-states parties from using cluster munitions. Similarly, paragraph 4 affirms the primacy of the fundamental obligations of the Convention, which cannot be derogated from, even in the framework of cooperative activities or military operations with States-non-party.” Belgium has also affirmed the importance of the positive obligations of Article 21 to promote the convention, noting “the emphasis is placed on the engagement of each State Party to encourage non-states parties to ratify, accede, approve or adhere to the Convention.”[14]

Similarly, in 2009 Belgium stated, “Each State Party will encourage other states to ratify, accept and approve or to join the treaty. The goal is the involvement of all countries. Each State Party will communicate that it will promote the standards imposed by the treaty, and that it will make every effort to discourage other states to use cluster munitions. States Parties, their military personnel or their residents can participate in military cooperation and operations with States not Parties, but they have by no means the permission to develop, produce, acquire, stockpile, transfer and use cluster munitions.”[15]

In 2009, the Minister of Foreign Affairs told the Belgian Senate that “military cooperation with third countries is possible, particularly international military operations, but the responsibilities are clearly delineated. In the case of Belgium and for other signatories, the rule is that we will not use cluster munitions and we will not assist States with a view to use them.”[16]

In 2011, the Department of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation informed the Monitor that Belgian authorities would be prohibited from granting import, export, or transit licenses for arms that are prohibited under Belgium’s national legislation of 2006, which bans cluster munitions.[17] In 2013, Belgium informed HI that Belgium’s regions have “an exclusive competence to grant export, import and transit licenses” but no license can be granted by these public authorities for weapons prohibited by the national law or by a treaty that has entered into force in Belgium.[18]

In 2011, Belgium’s Minister of Finance and Institutional Reforms stated that “the Belgian customs are not always aware of the exact content of the transport” in response to a parliamentary question about NATO transfers of military goods.[19] In 2011, the minister stated that Belgium’s commitment to international agreements prohibiting certain weapons “cannot block compliance with our country’s obligations to NATO allies,” and said, “These laws apply only to the Belgian forces, not to armed forces of other NATO member countries, whose troops and military equipment move in accordance with NATO rules.

Regarding foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions on the national territory of States Parties, Belgium informed HI in 2013 that “Following Article 1 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, State Parties undertake never under any circumstances to stockpile cluster munitions” and said that “according to Article 21 2.4b a State Party in its relations with a State not party is not allowed to itself stockpile cluster munitions.”[20]

The United States (US), Belgium’s NATO ally, has discussed its interoperability concerns with respect to the Convention on Cluster Munitions with Belgium.[21]

Belgium believes that live submunitions are necessary for training in destruction techniques (see Retention section below).

Belgium became the first country to ban investment in cluster munition producers when they passed the Belgian Act Prohibiting the Finance of the Production, Use or Possession of Antipersonnel Mines and Submunitions in March 2007.[22] The law prohibits direct and indirect financing.

As of 1 July 2014, the Belgian government had yet to publish a list of companies producing prohibited weapons, as required by the law, originally by a deadline of May 2008.[23] Civil society and members of parliament have continued to press the government to publish the list as well as full implementation of the law.[24] On 25 September 2013, a Member of Parliament submitted a written question to Minister of Justice Annemie Turtelboom on the issue in the House of Representatives.[25] As of 1 July 2014, the Minister had yet to respond.

Use, production, and transfer

Belgium is not known to have ever used or exported cluster munitions, though it has produced, imported, and stockpiled the weapon. Belgium has declared that it “has no production facilities.”[26]

The now defunct company Poudreries Réunies de Belgique (PRB) manufactured the NR 269 155mm artillery projectile with dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions prior to 1990. This production was reportedly assumed by Giat Industries in France.[27] Mecar SA and Forges de Zeebrugge (FZ) also had cluster munitions under development.[28]

Stockpile destruction

On 6 August 2010, Belgium completed the destruction of its stockpile of 115,210 155mm M483A1 artillery projectile cluster munitions containing 10,138,480 M42/M46 DPICM submunitions. The stockpile was destroyed in Italy by Esplodenti Sabino under a NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency (NAMSA) contract.[29]

In 2005, prior to adopting its ban law and the creation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Belgium destroyed its stockpile of 765 BL755 cluster bombs, each containing 147 submunitions, which it had imported from the United Kingdom.[30]

Retention

In its April 2014 Article 7 report, Belgium declared that it is retaining a total of 226 155mm M483A1 artillery projectiles and 19,888 M42 (64 EA)/M46 (24 EA) submunitions as of 31 December 2013.[31]

Belgium consumed 7 M483A1 artillery projectiles and 616 submunitions in explosive ordnance disposal training and research in 2013.[32] In 2012, Belgium consumed 38 M483A1 artillery projectiles and 3,344 submunitions in research and training, while in 2011 five projectiles and 440 submunitions were consumed.[33] In total, since 2009, Belgian has consumed 74 artillery projectiles and 6,512 submunitions of its originally declared 300 artillery projectiles and 26,400 submunitions.[34]

Belgium has reported that it anticipates 20–40 cluster munitions will be consumed each year in the training of explosive ordnance disposal personnel.[35]

 

In 2012, the Kingdom of Belgium contributed €5,592,222 (US$7,191,039) in mine action funding to seven states and three other areas, as well as to the UN Mine Action Service, the Organization of American States (OAS), and the ICRC.[1] Belgium’s contribution in 2012 was its lowest since 2004. Since 2010, Belgium’s mine action funding has decreased by €3.4 million ($4.7 million) or 40%.

Belgium contributed 81% of its total funding in 2012 to the ICRC, Angola, Kosovo and Lebanon.

Belgium has also provided financial support to a variety of research projects. Since 1997, it has funded the NGO APOPO in support of the use of rats in mine detection. The Ministry of Defense and the Federal Office for Scientific, Technical and Cultural Affairs have funded the PARADIS project which studies the use of satellite imagery in demining. Belgium also supports research through the Comité Européen de Normalisation to define new standards for characterizing soil in electromagnetic mine detection sensors.[2]

Contributions by recipient: 2012[3]

Belgium contributed 56% of its support to clearance, capacity development, and other activities associated with clearance operations. Its contributions to victim assistance, totaling €218,062 ($280,406) went to the OAS for activities in Peru and to Handicap International for global activities.

Contributions by thematic sector: 2012

Belgium’s annual contributions to mine action have fallen considerably since 2010. In 2012, Belgium cut its foreign aid budget by 13%, affecting funding for mine action.

Summary of contributions: 2008–2012[4]