Following revelations that Belgian companies shipped Sarin gas components to Syria, rights groups are increasing pressure on the government to crack down on arms exports to countries that use these weapons against civilian populations.

Liberties member the League of Human Rights (LDH) and CNAPD are calling on the Ministry of Finance to order the Belgium customs service to reject future arms exports to Saudi Arabia, given the country's role in the ongoing war in Yemen.

Sarin to Syria

This comes after the Belgian Customs and Excise Administration announced on 18 April that it is initiating legal proceedings against three Belgian companies that exported chemical products to Syria, a country under arms embargo. These chemical components are needed to produce Sarin gas, which is a chemical weapon of mass destruction.

By exporting them, the three companies clearly violated the obligations of the country under international law. Fortunately, the Belgium customs service seems to have taken full measure of the seriousness of such a violation of international law by denouncing such an exportation of chemical components to the repressive and violent regime in Syria, where the local population is being massacred.

Selling to the Saudis

But other products have left Belgian territory in violation of international law, such as weapons made in Wallonia and exported to Saudi Arabia in January 2018. These weapons, involving light weapons as well as war weapons (such as tank turrets, missile components, etc.), were included on the list of export licenses that the minister-president of the Wallonia government had granted in October 2017. These license exports are still subject to proceedings, initiated by LDH and CNAPD, for suspension and annulment before the Council of State, the Supreme Administrative Court of Belgium.

So far, neither the Walloon government nor the Council of State denied the urgency that these two organizations have stressed from the very start of the proceedings. All agree on the irreversible consequences that these arms exports would have: the violations of basic rights and freedoms of people (systematically committed by the Saudi Arabia government), the potential use of Walloon military equipment in the domestic repression or in the context of an armed conflict, or the risk of these arms (or other weapons that would be replaced by these new arms importations) falling into the hands of terrorist groups.

Suspend arms exports

According to Article 78/12 of the General Customs and Excise Act, the customs service must refuse the authorization of exports that include merchandise that are subjected to prohibitive or restrictive regulations.

Despite this, the arms export licenses that the minister-president of the Wallonia government had granted on 18 October 2017 all contained a condition under which “the validity of this license is suspended when the recipient country is involved in an international or domestic conflict," which is clearly the case of Saudi Arabia, which leads one of the military coalitions currently at war in Yemen.

Accordingly, in view of the fact that Saudi Arabia is deeply involved in such a conflict, LDH and CNAPD are calling on the Belgian customs service to implement the suspension measure imposed by the minister-president of Wallonia, thereby suspending the supply of weapons to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

If they fail to do so, Belgian authorities are very likely to be held accountable for their noncompliance with this clause.