Projet de loi de mise en conformité du droit belge avec la Convention internationale contre le recrutement, l'utilisation, le financement et l'instruction de mercenaires, adoptée à New York le 4 décembre 1989.
General information ¶
- Submitted by
- Groen Open Vld Vooruit PS | SP Ecolo MR Verhofstadt Ⅰ
- Submission date
- Feb. 26, 2003
- Official page
- Visit
- Status
- Adopted
- Requirement
- Simple
- Subjects
- mercenary armed forces war
Voting ¶
- Voted to adopt
- Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld N-VA MR
- Abstained from voting
- FN VB
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Discussion ¶
March 27, 2003 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)
Full source
Rapporteur Hugo Coveliers ⚙
At the meeting of the committee, it was decided that I would submit an oral report.
It is about the implementation of a New York Convention of 4 December 1989 in Belgian law. That Convention provides for a restriction on the recruitment of mercenaries for armed conflicts or conflicts taking place in third countries, where such recruitment is punishable. There is an exception to this.
The only discussion that took place was the following. In Article 3 of this text, which becomes Article 2 of the law, it is stated that this is done in the cases, determined in a royal decree clothed with reasons and consulted in the Council of Ministers. There is a sentence of imprisonment from three months to two years, when people are recruited in those cases. That recruitment, by the way, is not only for money, but can also be merely an employment for other reasons.
The Council of State stated that the law would not be fully consistent with the Convention, because certain areas could naturally be excluded, since the Council of Ministers determines for which conflict mercenaries should not be recruited. The government responded that this is not correct. The Convention provides that the recruitment of mercenaries for certain conflicts is punishable, with the exception, for example, of international police operations.
That was the only topic discussed at the committee meeting.
For a more technical explanation, I refer to the written report, which is still in the process and which each member will receive. That written report shall also provide the full technical reasoning within the framework of international public law. I think it is better that I refer to the written version, rather than here to a limited number of colleagues, who would therefore be bored, to explain all that again. In the end, the text was accepted, provided, I thought, some abstentions from the CD&V faction and the Vlaams Blok faction. If I am mistaken about this, then the colleagues can correct it, because I am now mentioning it out of mind.