A terrorism watchdog organisation warned on Wednesday that the threat of far-right extremism is underestimated in Belgium, primarily due to a lack of attention from authorities.
Comité T, the Counter-terrorism Vigilance Committee, argued in its annual report that violent acts from the far-right often fly under the radar because authorities are so focussed on other forms of extremism – particularly Islamism.
"The lack of attention paid to the far-right terrorist threat is not caused by the inadequacy of the law, but rather by how it is implemented," the report said.
The watchdog organisation wrote that a change of perspective is needed in Belgian counter-terrorism policy. It argues that over the past ten years, this has largely centred on the acts of foreign terrorist actions.
One obstacle that results in far-right activity being overlooked is the lack of a clear definition of violent right-wing extremism or terrorism, which prevents public services from having a "correct view of the phenomenon that ought to be investigated."
"Current Belgian criminal law is amply equipped to tackle a possible terrorist phenomenon characterised by right-wing extremist ideology and needs no strengthening", according to the report.
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The Belgian Coordinating Body for Threat Analysis (Ocam) notes that last year, 702 individuals were the subject of priority monitoring. Of these, 64 were classified as right-wing extremists.
However, the data on far-right extremism is unreliable, with Ocam admitting that "hate crimes and far-right incidents are largely under-reported."
Comité T was set up in 2005 by several associations to analyse the fight against terrorism from the point of view of fundamental rights.
