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Belgium

HAS ENDORSED THE POLITICAL DECLARATION

Belgium was actively involved in the process to develop a Political Declaration on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, and was among the first group of states to endorse the Political Declaration in Dublin in November 2022. Belgium regularly delivered statements throughout the consultations towards a Political Declaration, as well as raising concerns around explosive weapons in populated areas and expressing support for a Political Declaration in other multilateral forums.

Early in the consultation process, Belgium emphasised that there should be a focus on promoting International Humanitarian Law (IHL) as a sufficient existing framework, a repeated theme throughout its interventions where it called for a focus on “indiscriminate use” of explosive weapons, and a balance between military necessity and humanitarian concerns.1 In its November 2019 statement to the first consultations, Belgium called for the consideration of non-state actors within the Political Declaration and suggested that good management of munitions and prevention of arms diversion could be an important inclusion in this regard.2 Belgium also specified that the Declaration should recognise the humanitarian impacts of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, especially those with wide area effects, including the indirect, long-term, and reverberating effects.3 Belgium, along with others, also supported the use of qualifiers within the Political Declaration, indicating that instead of saying that explosive weapons in populated areas use “is having” devastating impacts, the Declaration should say that it “can have” these impacts or that these impacts “can arise” from explosive weapons in populated areas use.4 At subsequent consultations, Belgium reaffirmed many of these positions.5 Belgium suggested to use the wording “avoid and in any event minimise civilian harm when conducting an attack, including by restricting or refraining from the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas” in paragraph 3.3.6 At the final round of consultations in June 2022, Belgium welcomed the inclusion of language regarding victim assistance and humanitarian access in the operational part of the Declaration.7

Statements and positions

Belgium has frequently spoken on explosive weapons in populated areas in multilateral forums, primarily to condemn the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, highlighting the harm it causes to civilians, particularly children, and call for avoiding this practice, as well as to emphasise the need for states to abide by IHL. Belgium has delivered such statements during the UN Security Council open debate on children and armed conflict8 and during the UN Security Council open debate on the protection of civilians.9 With the final text of the Declaration agreed, Belgium also took the opportunity to welcome the successful completion of the Political Declaration at subsequent meetings of the UN Security Council and at the UN General Assembly First Committee.10

Alongside its individual statements, Belgium has repeatedly aligned with other states to deliver statements on explosive weapons in populated areas. As a member of the European Union (EU), Belgium has signed onto numerous joint statements condemning the use of explosive weapons in populated areas and the harms it causes to civilians and civilian objects, as well as calling for greater IHL compliance. This includes at several UN Security Council open debates on the protection of civilians in armed conflict 11 and at the General Debate of UN General Assembly First Committee12, as well as at the 2022 UN Security Council open debate on war in cities where the EU expressed concern over the indiscriminate use of explosive weapons in populated areas, including near hospitals, schools, and universities.13 Belgium also aligned with the World Humanitarian Summit Core Commitments to ‘Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity’ as an EU member state in May 2016. This included the commitment “to promote and enhance the protection of civilians and civilian objects, especially in the conduct of hostilities, for instance by working to prevent civilian harm resulting from the use of wide-area explosive weapons in populated areas, and by sparing civilian infrastructure from military use in the conduct of military operations.”14

Belgium also endorsed the Ireland-led joint statement during the 74th United Nations General Assembly First Committee in 2019. The statement encouraged states to participate in international efforts to address the impacts of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas on civilians, including by working towards the creation of an international Political Declaration15. As a member of the Group of Friends on Protection of Civilians, Belgium has supported statements at the UN Security Council stressing the importance of respecting IHL and the need to enhance the protection of civilians.16

  1. Acheson, R. 2020. Reaching Critical Will. ‘Impacts, Not Intentionality: The Imperative of Focusing on the Effects of Explosive Weapons in a Political Declaration’. 14 February 2020.  https://reachingcriticalwill.org/news/latest-news/14658-impacts-not-intentionality-the-imperative-of-focusing-on-the-effects-of-explosive-weapons-in-a-Political-Declaration.

  2. ‘Protecting Civilians in Urban Warfare – explosive weapons in populated areas– Consultations informelles– Intervention de la Belgique.’ Reaching Critical Will. 18 November 2019.  https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/ewipa/Declaration/statements/18Nov_Belgium.pdf.

  3. Reaching Critical Will (2019). ‘Towards a Political Declaration on the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas: States Need to Ensure that Expressed Commitments Translate Into Real Impacts on the Ground.’ Reaching Critical Will. 2019. https://reachingcriticalwill.org/news/latest-news/14451-towards-a-Political-Declaration-on-the-use-of-explosive-weapons-in-populated-areas-states-need-to-ensure-that-expressed-commitments-translate-into-real-impacts-on-the-ground.

  4. Irish Foreign Ministry. ‘Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas – Political Declaration Consultations, Day 1 Afternoon’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPllKWRMlNg. 

  5. Ray Acheson, Reaching Critical Will (2021). ‘Report on the March 2021 Consultations on a Political Declaration on the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas’. https://reachingcriticalwill.org/news/latest-news/15213-report-on-the-march-2021-consultations-on-a-Political-Declaration-on-the-use-of-explosive-weapons-in-populated-areas.

  6. Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. ‘Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas – Political Declaration Consultations, Day 1 Afternoon’. Available from:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPllKWRMlNg.

  7. Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. ‘Watch Back: Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas: Consultations – Afternoon’. Available from:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nO5frX2hnM. 

  8. United Nations Security Council. S/PV.6790. 25 June 2012. Available from: https://undocs.org/en/S/PV.6790(Resumption1); United Nations Security Council. S/PV.7466. 18 June 2015. Available from: https://undocs.org/en/S/PV.7466; United Nations Security Council. S/PV.7753. 2 August 2016. Available from: https://undocs.org/en/S/PV.7753.

  9. United Nations Security Council. S/PV.7109. 12 February 2014. Available from: https://undocs.org/en/S/PV.7109. United Nations Security Council. S/PV.7711. 10 June 2016. Available from: https://undocs.org/en/S/PV.7711; United Nations Security Council. S/PV.8534. 23 May 2019. Available from: https://undocs.org/en/S/PV.8534.

  10. United Nations Security Council. S/PV.9327. 23 May 2023. Available from: https://undocs.org/en/S/PV.9327(Resumption1); ‘BELGIUM: Statement at the Adoption of the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences arising from the use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas’. 18 November 2022. Available from: https://www.dfa.ie/media/dfa/ourrolepolicies/peaceandsecurity/ewipa/Belgium.pdf. 

  11. ‘EU Statement during the May 2011 Security Council Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict’. Permanent Mission of the European Union to the United Nations. 10 May 2011.  http://www.peacewomen.org/sites/default/files/eu_poc_11may2011_0.pdf; ‘EU Statement during the June 2012 Security Council Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict’. Permanent Mission of the European Union to the United Nations. 25 June 2012. http://www.peacewomen.org/security-council/security-council-open-debate-protection-civilians-armed-conflict-june-2012/; ‘EU Statement during the August 2013 UN Security Council Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict’. Permanent Mission of the European Union to the United Nations. 19 August 2013. http://www.peacewomen.org/sites/default/files/european_union_poc_august_2013_debate_0.pdf. 

  12. ‘EU Statement to the UN General Assembly 72nd Session First Committee Thematic Discussion on Conventional Weapons’. Permanent Mission of the European Union to the United Nations. 18 October 2017.  https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com17/statements/18Oct_EU.pdf.

  13. Acheson, R. 2022. ‘UN Security Council Debates War in Cities and the Protection of Civilians.’ Reaching Critical Will, 28 January 2022. https://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/news/latest-news/16009-un-security-council-debates-war-in-cities-and-the-protection-of-civilians.

  14. Agenda for Humanity Archives. ‘Belgium’.  https://agendaforhumanity.org/stakeholders/commitments/127.html.

  15. ‘UNGA74 First Committee Joint Statement on Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas’. Permanent Mission of Ireland to the United Nations. 24 October 2019. Available from https://article36.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/UNGA74-joint-statement-on-explosive-weapons-in-populated-areas.pdf; ‘Seventy-one States call for Action on Impact of Explosive Weapons in Joint Statement to UN General Assembly’. International Network on Explosive Weapons. October 2019. Available from: https://www.inew.org/seventy-one-states-call-for-action-on-impact-of-explosive-weapons-in-joint-statement-to-un-general-assembly/. 

  16. Acheson, R. 2022. ‘UN Security Council Debates War in Cities and the Protection of Civilians.’ Reaching Critical Will, 28 January 2022. https://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/news/latest-news/16009-un-security-council-debates-war-in-cities-and-the-protection-of-civilians; Group of Friends (2022). ‘UN Security Council Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians’. https://undocs.org/en/S/PV.9042; United Nations Security Council. S/PV.9327. 23 May 2023. Available from: https://undocs.org/en/S/PV.9327(Resumption1). 

Other State Positions