Human rights are only present on paper in Belgium, according to the Federal Institute for Human Rights (FIHR).
The Director of FIHR, Martien Schotsmans, made the comments on Sunday, which marked 75 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Schotsmans added that “for several categories of people, rights are poorly respected.”
Belgium's challenges in upholding human rights
The FIHR, established in 2019 and operational since 2021, serves both citizens and politicians by providing guidance and thematic reports on various legislative projects.
One major concern highlighted by the Institute is the state’s non-compliance with judgements.
It is estimated that over 8,500 rulings related to the refugee crisis remain unenforced. “When the executive power does not respect the judiciary’s decisions, it’s extremely worrying for a constitutional state,” Schotsmans points out.
In June, the Belgian state and Fedasil were criticised by the Francophone Court of First Instance in Brussels regarding their handling of the migrant crisis, highlighting that “the non-execution of previous sentences undermines the foundations of the rule of law”.
Another concern for the FIHR is prison overpopulation, a matter they work on in collaboration with the Central Supervisory Board for Prisons (CSBP).
The Institute emphasises that the state has repeatedly been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights due to poor detention conditions.
Persistent issues and recommendations
“The last action plan of Belgium does not adequately respond to these recommendations. The authorities have not taken enough initiative to solve the prison overpopulation problem,” says the director of the FIHR.
The Institute also urges the Belgian government to ratify the optional UN protocol relating to the Convention against Torture. “This protocol provides for the establishment of an independent body to carry out preventive visits to detention centres,” explains Schotsmans.
While Schotsmans believes that human rights are “almost” all present “on paper” in Belgium, she notes that several population categories do not benefit in the same way as other citizens.
Three more vulnerable groups identified by the Institute, for whom measures should be implemented, are psychiatric patients in prison annexes, asylum seekers, and people living in precarious situations.
Another complaint voiced by several institutions, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, relates to Belgium’s lack of an inter-federal plan against racism.
“Every region, except Flanders, and the Federal level have a plan against racism, but the absence of an inter-federal plan complicates things,” explains Véronique Ghesquière, head of politics and monitoring service at UNIA in Belgium, the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism.
