Actions taken:
The Belgian authorities and the Belgian Red Cross have held bilateral consultations on the issue of the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, notably in the run-up to and following international conferences that are relevant in this respect. Examples: the NATO Summit meetings, the sessions of the UN open-ended working group taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations in 2016, the sessions of the UN General Assembly First Committee, the sessions of the UN negotiations on a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons and the Preparatory meeting for the 2020 Review Conference on the NPT (2019). The National Society took these opportunities to remind the Movement’s position and the key messages at these international meetings. It also discussed some concrete actions to follow up with the authorities.
Belgium supports a number of resolutions and statements which draw attention to the catastrophic consequences of the use of nuclear weapons. An important text in this regard is the resolution submitted by Japan at the General Assembly of the United Nations, which is entitled “United Action with renewed determination towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons”. This resolution states that concern about the humanitarian effects of nuclear weapons underpins our efforts towards nuclear disarmament and calls for more public awareness raising on this matter. Belgium has always voted in favor of this resolution, and co-sponsored the resolution in 2016 and 2018.
The Belgian Government declared its concern over the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons in national statements, notably during the proceedings of the “open-ended working group on nuclear disarmament” (2016), the sessions of the Conference on Disarmament and the meetings in the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Belgium has cited the humanitarian impact as a principal motive to make progress on nuclear disarmament.
From its side, the Belgian Red Cross was involved in different activities to express the Movement’s concerns and position on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons in trainings and events.
On 25 May 2016, the Belgian Red Cross gave a presentation on nuclear weapons and the position of the Movement before the members of the Commission on External Relations of the parliament. The Commission was planning to discuss a draft resolution inviting Belgium to support the Humanitarian Initiative and the prohibition of nuclear weapons at the international level for humanitarian reasons. Several documents were circulated among the Commissions’ members for their information, including Resolution 1 of the 2011 Council of Delegates and the Movement Plan of action adopted at the 2013 Council of Delegates, the ICRC factsheets on the consequences of the nuclear weapons and a summary drafted by the Belgian Red Cross on the Movement’s position and its perspectives for the future on the issue. Since then, the Belgian Red Cross has kept regular contacts with the Chair of the Commission on External Relations in order to be informed on the follow-up to the draft resolution.
The issue of nuclear weapons and the relevant rules under IHL, the Movement position as well as the humanitarian consequences after the use of such weapons were communicated during IHL trainings and other IHL dissemination activities towards various target audiences. Examples: Seminars and IHL competitions for students in universities, IHL introductory seminars for Belgian civil servants and study days for militaries.
On several occasions, the Belgian Red Cross-Flanders and the Belgian Red Cross – French-speaking Community communicated the Movement’s position and the outcomes of international conferences on their respective websites, on the pages dedicated to international humanitarian law.
In June 2017, the Belgian Red Cross echoed through an op-ed the Movement’s appeal urging all the States to participate in the second round of the UN negotiations for a ban treaty:
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- the newspaper ‘Le Soir’( http://plus.lesoir.be/98497/article/2017-06-07/interdiction-des-armes-nucleaires-la-belgique-doit-saffirmer)
- and on the website of the Belgian Red Cross-Flanders (http://www.rodekruis.be/nieuws-kalender/blog/belgische-rode-kruis-roept-belgische-overheid-op-om-deel-te-nemen-aan-de-vn-onderhandelingen-inzake-een-verbodsverdrag-op-nucleaire-wapens/)
In 2018, articles were published by the Belgian RC (Fr) on its website on several occasions:
- 50th anniversary of the adoption of the NPT (1st July) and NATO Summit (11-12 July) : https://action-internationale.croix-rouge.be/2018/06/27/monde-armes-nucleaires/
- Hiroshima and Nagasaki anniversaries (6 and 9 August): https://action-internationale.croix-rouge.be/2018/08/02/hiroshima-nagasaki-drame-humanitaire-aujourdhui/
- International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (26 September): https://action-internationale.croix-rouge.be/2018/09/26/journee-internationale-pour-lelimination-totale-de-larme-nucleaire/.
Additionally, the Belgian RC (Fl) has published several messages on social media channels, including on the occasion of the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (26 September 2018).
Moreover, the Belgian Red Cross continued to support initiatives undertaken by the Movement on the nuclear weapons issue.
The Belgian Red Cross participated in the National Societies’ workshop on the implementation of the 2013 Action Plan, organized by the ICRC and the IFRC in Geneva on 30 April – 1 May 2016. The Belgian Red Cross also participated in the Nagasaki meeting on 24-26 April 2017 in order to adopt a new Plan of Action for the non-use, prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons. The Belgian Red Cross also signed the Nagasaki appeal. This appeal has been publicly disseminated by the Flemish Community and the French-speaking Community through their means of communication as their respective websites.
The Belgian Red Cross attended other Movement consultations through teleconference in 2018 on the implementation of the new Movement Action Plan on nuclear weapons (resolution 4 of the 2017 Council of Delegates) and attended in March 2019 the first online meeting of the Movement Support Group on Nuclear Weapons, in order to discuss on the recent and planned Movement’s actions related to the implementation of the Movement’s Action Plan on nuclear weapons according to the recent international developments. The National Society also supported the Movement communication campaign launched by the ICRC in 2019 by communicating through social medias on the issue at key moments regarding the international news and the national context (e.g. the NPT Preparatory Committee from 29 April-10 May 2019 and the anniversary of the adoption of the TPNW on 7 July 2019).
