The Belgian Council of State, the country's supreme administrative court, has ruled that the Walloon government did not carry out sufficient research on the negative impact that arms exports to Saudi Arabia could have on basic rights in this country and Yemen.

In December 2017, Liberties member the League of Human Rights (LDH) and CNAPD, supported by the Belgian francophone section of Amnesty International, lodged an appeal before the Council of State to suspend and cancel the arms export licenses for Saudi Arabia, which had been granted by the minister-president of Wallonia in October 2017.

Three reasons to appeal

The NGOs lodged their appeal for three reasons. First, they wanted to prevent the sending of military-grade weapons and light weapons to Saudi Arabia, which made it possible for authorities to perpetrate massive violations of fundamental rights (for which this country is constantly responsible, not only inside its borders but also outside, as in Yemen).

Secondly, because the granting of such a license (there were 28 licenses in total) brought up, once more, the question of the lack of transparency regarding the decision of granting such export licenses.

Thirdly, because this appeal offered the opportunity to move forward in the implementation of a European embargo. Indeed, the EU Council Common Position on the issue requires a member state to consult other members states that had already refused to issue a license for a similar export (regarding the recipient country and the type of arms that are sent), before issuing any arms export license.

The decisions delivered by the Council of State means that, in view of the situation in Yemen and in Saudi Arabia, the Wallonia region must suspend its arms exports for Saudi Arabia because of the likelihood of such weapons further enabling Saudi Arabia to violate international human rights law.

Indeed, Saudi Arabia is implementing a policy that completely goes against its international obligations, as well as Belgium’s interests. The Council of State underlines the fact that the Wallonia region did not conduct any risk assessment regarding such an export in the context of the Fight against terrorism.

Democratic oversight needed

The Council of State confirms that the decrees that had followed the legal challenge brought by LDH and CNAPD on arms exports for Libya in 2011 were insufficient. The Wallonia decree must indeed be deeply reformed in order to ensure transparency and allow to have a public debate on this kind of matters.

For this purpose, the transmission of information that allows members of parliament to genuinely exercise their supervisory power is essential. A genuine democratic supervision of arms exports, that makes it possible to determine if exports violate Belgium obligations and commitments, must be implemented.

In order to effectively control and, if needed, to call on the government to act, the Parliament must have access to the opinions of the Commission. At the very least, a report should be summited to the Parliament every month (instead of every semester as it is currently the case). Furthermore, the implementation of a pluralist Commission that include a majority of independent representatives, which would be in charge of granting the license, would allow to avoid that the compliance with human rights is not negatively affected by trade and industrial interests.

Finally, the Council of State reminds the government of Wallonia that it has a heavy responsibility regarding the weapons management system in Belgium. By adopting a wait-and-see attitude after the first appeals against the exports to Libya in 2011, and then failing to execute the decree that was delivered regarding this case and ignoring the federal resolution asking for the implementation of an embargo on arms exports for Saudi Arabia, the Belgian government has been contributing to an increased risk for this industry.

An opportunity, not a defeat

As a 100% shareholder of FN Herstal, it is in the power and the duty of the government to ensure that this company does not depend on markets that are described (by the government itself) as "very sensitive." By not doing so, it is responsible for weakening this sector, as the problematic aspect of such export destinations have been known for a long time. In doing nothing, the government makes a choice that might have far-reaching consequences for the employment rate in this sector.

The Council of State’s decision should not be considered as a defeat for the government of Wallonia, but rather as an opportunity for the authorities to comply with the EU Common Position and, by extension, to ensure the compliance by other countries with this Common Position, in order to find an agreement on the implementation of an embargo on arms exports for Saudi Arabia. This would send a powerful message to the other EU member states.