2023-06-28 20:20:00
Exports of arms manufactured in Wallonia to countries where respect for human rights is not a national sport are often singled out. On Wednesday, Amnesty International (AI), the National Coordination of Action for Peace and Democracy (CNAPD), the Human Rights League (LDH) and Vredesactie presented their 6th report from the Walloon weapons observatory. They note once once more that a number of concerns remain. In particular because of “the growing opacity of the Walloon Region and particularly of the Minister-President, Elio Di Rupo”, explains Stan Brabant, expert in arms issues and author of the report.
The latter is worried regarding the way in which the advisory committee responsible for informing the Minister-President works when the latter is called upon to decide on the granting of an arms export license. “In 2019, the advisory committee was, for example, opposed to exports to Saudi Arabia. A year later we noticed that she had become much more conciliatory”. Stan Brabant mentions in particular, the “reframing of this commission with the arrival within it of a colonel, former defense adviser to Elio Di Rupo, when he was Prime Minister”. He therefore wonders whether “the advisory committee still has any credibility”.
Restrictive but not that much
The expert points in particular to the fact that, despite the promise of the Minister-President to adopt “a restrictive attitude towards the United Arab Emirates”, three export licenses to this country were granted in 2021”. “A country that is known to re-export to Yemen in particular.”
Nevertheless, the report points out that in 2022, the amount of Walloon exports to other countries decreased by 61% compared to 2021. “There are two reasons: the decrease in exports to Saudi Arabia and the end of the John Cockerill’s contract with a Canadian company for the assembly of tank turrets”, insists Stan Brabant who recalls that this contract violated several standards in his view. “The Turrets were certainly assembled in Canada, but the tanks were then exported to Saudi Arabia. It was therefore entered as an export to Canada without specifying that there was then a re-export to a more dubious country.”
The report also mentions the drop in Walloon arms exports to Indonesia (six times less in 2022 compared to 2021). Contracts involving four Walloon companies: FN Herstal, John Cockerill, Mecar and New La chaussée. “It’s going down, but there are still some in this country where abuses have been committed in Papua.”
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It should also be noted that, according to Stan Brabant, Wallonia has “granted funding to the John Cockerill company to develop a vehicle which should meet certain needs in the Middle East region”. “To do this, the company announced the establishment of a partnership with the Nimr company owned by an Emirati state group.”
Finally, note the increase in the number of licenses granted for exports to France. A priori, one can think that France is not a doubtful country in terms of respect for human rights, like the other states mentioned above. “This concerns ammunition and the Mecar company in particular, which has a subsidiary in France. It is not known where these weapons go following being exported to France. It is a problem.”
In conclusion, the organizations associated within the observatory of Walloon weapons ask for several things. In particular, greater transparency around the granting of these arms licenses. “But also compliance with relevant legislation,” explains François Gras, campaign and advocacy coordinator for the French-speaking Belgian section of Amnesty. The associations want to guarantee the independence of the advisory committee “on which also sit three people employed by the Walloon Region”. “That does not reassure us in terms of independence”, insists François Gras. The conclusion goes to Stan Brabant who considers that the issue of weapons in Wallonia is managed “by a small world that does its cooking in a very opaque way”.
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