Belgium was one of the first countries to sign the Charter and the United Nations remains a unique global framework for realizing a multilateral commitment.

Deputy Prime Ministers and Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation Didier Reynders and Alexander De Croo emphasize the importance of the United Nations.

Multilateralism is in the DNA of Belgian diplomacy. It unites countries and increases the quality of the solutions that are jointly found for complex problems. An international legal order can promote stability, peace and security. The UN also guarantees a comprehensive approach, in which peace and security are inextricably linked to respect for human rights and the sustainable development of people and the environment.

 

 

Multilateralism is a choice. This choice is not self-evident for everyone. At a time when certain conflicts are escalating or not being resolved, we need to reinvest with particular energy in dialogue, respect for the principles of the UN Charter and the promotion of the international legal order. Belgium is strongly in favour of strengthening the law, rather than the law of the strongest. International humanitarian law must not be further undermined. Protecting citizens – and certainly the most vulnerable ones – is a duty, not an option. This is what is at stake for our country, including during our mandate in the Security Council.

Both ministers therefore call for solidarity with the victims of all violent conflicts, but also for concrete lessons to be learned, on this United Nations Day. Even though the world has changed enormously since the creation of the UN, the principles of the Charter remain valid and universal. That is why Belgium wants to continue to work for a strong UN that can prevent conflicts and guarantee lasting peace.

On August 29th, International Day Against Nuclear Tests, the Vice-Prime minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders pleads for a definitive end to all nuclear tests. To this end, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) must enter into force.

Over the past two years, the Belgian diplomacy remained engaged in the so-called Article XIV process in Vienna. The 1996 treaty can only enter into force after the ratification by 8 remaining countries, namely the USA, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Iran, China, Israel and Egypt.

Only then, an international ban on all nuclear tests under the control of an international organization will apply. Minister Reynders urges those countries to take on the necessary steps towards ratification. Without this treaty, a risk remains to see new and ever more powerful nuclear weapons being developed. Only a world without nuclear tests can eventually lead to a world without nuclear weapons.

North Korea is the only country to have carried out nuclear tests in the 21^st century. In 2018, the country’s announcement to suspend nuclear tests has been encouraging, but North Korea has now to take steps to ratify the CTBT, according to Minister Reynders. The Minister is convinced that, due to its expertise and experience, the international organization set up by the treaty, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), could play an important role in the future dismantling of North Korea’s nuclear tests infrastructure.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders condemn the demolition on July 4th of three water tanks, 2500 trees and a fence as part of an OXFAM humanitarian project in Dukaika, south of Hebron, funded by the Belgian Development Cooperation. This project, which was completed in 2015-16, was designed to preserve pastures for livestock, a major source of income for 300 affected people.

🇧🇪DPMs @alexanderdecroo & @dreynders condemn the destruction of a humanitarian project in Dukaika, south of Hebron.

This project was funded by Belgium & designed to preserve pastures for livestock, a major source of local income.

📍Learn more: https://t.co/VgYQi4cSTq pic.twitter.com/vZIySNJZrH

— Belgium MFA 🇧🇪 (@BelgiumMFA) July 22, 2019

These new demolitions and confiscations of essential infrastructure are unacceptable: Belgium’s projects aim to meet humanitarian needs and are conducted in the strictest respect of international humanitarian law and principles of aid transparency. Deputy Prime Ministers Alexander De Croo and Didier Reynders have already expressed on several occasions their deep concern at the worrying increase in the number of demolitions and confiscations of structures and humanitarian projects in Zone C. They recall that the demolitions of infrastructure and housing in the occupied West Bank, are contrary to international humanitarian law, in particular the Fourth Geneva Convention, as well as to Security Council resolutions.

 

3 watertanken en 2500 bomen geleverd door Oxfam en betaald door #DGD (€75K) werden op 4/7 door de Israëlische overheid met bulldozers vernietigd. Met gevolgen voor 300 mensen in het bedoueïenendorp nabij Hebron. Wij veroordelen deze daad en vragen aan @belgiumbe om te reageren. pic.twitter.com/SW639xt1xm

— Oxfam-Sol (@oxfam_sol) July 22, 2019

 

Belgium is not the only international donor targeted by this type of destruction. Since 2017, at the initiative of Belgium, a group of partner countries affected by similar acts has intervened with the Israeli authorities in a systematic way, even very recently, to ask them to put an end to these demolitions and to restore affected projects or pay compensation for the damages. For the latest incident, Belgium will promptly request explanations from the Israeli Government – both via the Ambassador in Brussels and Tel Aviv – as well as compensations.

Didier Reynders, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defense, will travel to Washington today and tomorrow to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty. Minister Reynders will also take part in a meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers dedicated to the challenges facing the Alliance today.

On April 4, 1949, in Washington, twelve countries including Belgium signed the North Atlantic Treaty establishing NATO. 70 years later, this anniversary is an opportunity to reiterate our unwavering commitment to this transatlantic alliance, which guarantees our defense and our collective security. Over the decades, NATO has been able to cope with more complex, diffuse and hybrid threats through its adaptive capacity, credible deterrence and defense, the development of partnerships, the solidarity of its Allies, and a strong transatlantic link.

NATO continues to play a pivotal role in Belgium’s security and defense policy, be it its deterrence and defense of the territory of the Organization, or its efforts to maintaining peace and security elsewhere in the world. Belgium remains a supportive and credible partner in NATO, and fully supports its efforts to enable it to continue to meet the challenges of a very unpredictable security environment. Belgium will continue to uphold the principles and values ​​that are its strength and to promote ever greater effectiveness of the Alliance.

On the sidelines of the NATO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, Minister Reynders will also visit Arlington National Cemetery. He and his colleague, Luxembourger Jean Asselborn will lay a wreath at the foot of the Battle of the Bulge Monument – “the biggest land battle in the history of the US Army” – whose 75th anniversary is commemorated this year.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defense Didier Reynders is participating in the 40th session of the High Level Segment of the Human Rights Council today, which will meet in Geneva (Switzerland) until 22 March.

For four weeks, the Council examines numerous human rights reports on various human rights issues in some fifty countries. 14 countries will also undergo a Universal Periodic Review, a periodic evaluation of their human rights policy.

People are still victims of violence, injustice and discrimination because of their origin, color, religion or sexual orientation. As a member of the Human Rights Council over the past three years, Belgium has been committed to improve and protect the rights of these people.

Even now that our country is no longer a member of the Human Rights Council, it continues the human rights battle in other fora. Human rights are paramount during the Belgian mandate in the UN Security Council. For Didier Reynders, human rights are not the third or last pillar of the UN, but they are crucial to achieving lasting peace and development. Closer cooperation between the headquarters in Geneva and New York can promote this.

The Minister suggests the Human Rights Council to continue investing in partnerships with regional organizations to increase its efficiency. The Council of Europe in Strasbourg (France) for example, is a beacon of human rights, democracy and the rule of law, which must guarantee peace in Europe. The European Union can also contribute to better protection of fundamental rights. In this regard, Didier Reynders has taken the initiative to organize a periodic evaluation of the compliance with the rule of law between the EU member states.

 

 

To underline the Belgian commitment, the Minister announced that Belgium is proposing its candidacy to re-join the Human Rights Council from 2023 to 2025.

He will also participate in a debate on human rights violations in the application of the death penalty. Belgium has been working for years for the universal abolition of the death penalty. That is why our country is also receiving this week, together with the EU, the Seventh Global Congress against the Death Penalty in Brussels.

In the margins of the Human Rights Council, the Minister has a bilateral meeting with the High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet. He also participates in the pledging conference for the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, for which Belgium will contribute an extra 8.6 million euros.

Didier Reynders will also sign a financing agreement with the International Trade Center to promote inclusive and sustainable trade, especially in Africa.

Lastly, the Minister will address the disarmament conference, of which Belgium is one of the 65 members. An excellent opportunity to support the very topical objective of this international conference: a safer world thanks to international disarmament agreements.

On the occasion of the International Day Against the Use of Child Soldiers, Belgium is organizing an informal session of the UN Security Council on the important role the United Nations can play in liberating and reintegrating child soldiers into society. They are recruited worldwide by armed groups or government forces.

Stopping the recruitment and use of children in armed conflicts has long been a priority of Belgian foreign policy. With this session, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense Didier Reynders wants to put this issue back on the map, including through testimonies and concrete examples from the Central African Republic. Even in situations of extremely difficult access, it is important to convince the parties to constructive dialogue and the release of children.

More than twenty years after the Machel report on the impact of armed conflict on children, attention and action remain crucial. Tens of thousands of children are not only used as combatants today, they are often also abused by their employers. Many of them, especially girls, are victims of sexual violence.

The involvement of children in armed conflict is not inevitable. Children are involved in warfare as a result of conscious and unconscious decisions by adults. The flagrant abuse and exploitation of children during armed conflicts can be eliminated but requires thorough action and sustained political pressure. Belgium is committed to achieving this goal.

Our country has played a leading role in this field for years. In the framework of our Security Council mandate in 2019 and 2020, Belgium chairs the UNSC Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict. In the coming months, we will conduct negotiations in the on tackling children’s rights violations in Myanmar, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Central African Republic.

Belgium is active on many fronts in the fight against children’s rights violations, also outside the UN Security Council. In that regard, Belgium is making an important financial contribution to UNICEF’s so-called ‘monitoring and reporting mechanism’ (MRM), which collects information about children’s rights violations in armed conflicts. Highlighting children’s rights violations and exposing the perpetrators are crucial steps towards tackling the problem. Belgium is also a member of a group of like-minded countries that fight together against violations of children’s rights in armed conflict. In Geneva, our country is co-chairing that group. Belgium is also committed to the issue of children and armed conflicts within the EU and NATO.