Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 - Belgium

Population: 10.4 million (2.1 million under 18)
Government Armed Forces: 39,700
Compulsary Recruitment Age: 17 (conscription suspended)
Voluntary Recruitment Age: 18
Voting Age: 18
Optional Protocol: ratified 6 May 2002
Other Treaties: GC AP I, GC AP II, CRC, ILO 138, ILO 182, ICC

Belgium backed a "straight-18" position, but had yet to amend its national legislation to exclude the possibility of under-18s serving in the armed forces. Legislation ruled out the deployment of under-18s in hostilities at all times.

Government:

National recruitment legislation and practice

Although compulsory military service as such no longer existed in Belgium, the Consolidated Military Service Acts of 1962 had not yet been repealed; the Acts allowed for the conscription of individuals at 18 or 19 into the armed forces in peacetime, and permitted conscription into the recruitment reserve at 17 in wartime.¹ In June 2006 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child called on the government to "repeal all laws that allow the recruitment of persons under the age of 18 into the armed forces in time of war".² Following on from Belgium's declaration on ratification of the Optional Protocol in May 2002, the minimum age for voluntary recruitment into the Belgian Armed Forces was now 18. Furthermore, the declaration contained an absolute prohibition on the participation of any individual under 18 in armed engagement of any kind or in peacekeeping operations in times of both war and peace (1962 legislation notwithstanding).³ The conscription or enlistment of children under the age of 15 into the armed forces or armed groups, as well as compelling children to play an active role in hostilities, were criminalized in the Act of 5 August 2003, and could now be prosecuted as war crimes. In June 2006 the Committee on the Rights of the Child welcomed the fact that "children who have been recruited into national armed forces or who have been used for active participation in hostilities while they were under the age of 15 can obtain direct access to the Belgian courts if there is a link between Belgium and the crime". However, the Committee regretted the limits placed on extraterritorial jurisdiction by the 2003 act, whereby there could be no prosecutions of serious violations of international humanitarian law without the establishment of a clear link connecting the violations with Belgium.⁴ In April 2006 the Belgian senate adopted a detailed resolution calling on the government to make children in armed conflict a policy priority.

Military training and military schools

Individuals who applied successfully to become career non-commissioned officers in the armed forces could from the age of 16 complete their secondary education in a non-commissioned officers' college. Those who applied successfully to become a career officer candidate and wished to attend the Royal Military Academy had first to have completed their secondary education and would generally be 17 or 18 years of age on entering the academy, where courses were at university level. Although there was no specific legislation in place concerning the military status of students under 18 in these institutions (including their status in a time of armed conflict), the government emphasized that, in accordance with a March 2003 act concerning military recruitment, no such mobilization would be possible for those who had not already completed their secondary education.⁵ According to the government, "the question of protecting children in armed conflicts is addressed in the training given to all military personnel. It is brought to the attention of all categories of personnel on several occasions during basic and in-service training courses on the law of armed conflict."⁶

Developments:

In June 2006 the Committee on the Rights of the Child made particular note of the fact that Belgium was a "country of destination" for children migrating or seeking asylum from war-affected areas. The Committee praised the efforts of the Belgian Red Cross, working alongside the Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers, to offer social and psychological support to such children. However, the Committee called on the authorities greatly to expand its efforts to provide specific services for child refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants who might have been participants in or victims of hostilities in their countries of origin.⁷

At a February 2007 ministerial meeting in Paris, Belgium and 58 other states endorsed the Paris Commitments to protect children from unlawful recruitment or use by armed forces or armed groups and the Paris Principles and guidelines on children associated with armed forces or armed groups. The documents reaffirmed international standards and operational principles for protecting and assisting child soldiers and followed a wide-ranging global consultation jointly sponsored by the French government and UNICEF.

1 Initial report of Belgium to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights on the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, UN Doc. CRC/C/OPAC/BEL/1, 15 August 2005.

2 Committee on the Rights of the Child, Consideration of the initial report submitted by Belgium, Concluding observations, UN Doc. CRC/C/OPAC/BEL/CO/1, 9 June 2006.

3 Initial report, above note 1.

4 Concluding observations, above note 2.

5 Initial report, above note 1.

6 Written replies of the Belgian Government concerning the list of issues to be taken up in consideration of the initial report of Belgium to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights on the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, UN Doc. CRC/C/OPAC/BEL/Q/1/Add.1, 3 April 2006.

7 Concluding observations, above note 2.