Belgium revokes four licences of arms deals with Saudi
In Belgium, the Council of State announced the suspension of four licenses to export weapons from the Walloon region in the south of the country to the Al Saud regime.
The decision came due to the Al Saud regime’s war crimes against civilians in Yemen and the kingdom’s black human rights record.
The announcement was made after three Belgian human rights organizations challenged the President of the Walloon region’s decision last November to re-issue weapons licenses to Saudi Arabia.
The Council of State in Belgium previously issued in March and August of last year decisions suspending these licenses.
Three human rights organizations stated that it has become urgent for Wallonia to realize that granting licenses to export weapons to Saudi Arabia is not justified under international and regional law.
The organizations said that despite the Belgian Federal Parliament and the European Parliament’s decisions regarding human rights violations in Yemen, Wallonia continued to export weapons to the parties involved in the conflict.
The three organizations also called on Wallonia and its socialist President, Elio de Robo, to respect its obligations under international law and the region’s law. They also called on him to end the deliberate blindness towards the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s actions and the atrocities committed in Yemen.
The European Parliament had previously called for a ban on arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE due to their involvement in the Yemeni war.
Last August, the Administrative Court in Belgium decided to suspend the license to sell a local arms company to the Al Saud regime on its crimes against civilians in Yemen.
Under pressure from human rights organizations, the Administrative Court in Belgium revoked a license out of six to sell companies’ weapons to Saudi Arabia.
According to the decision, the agreement concluded between the Saudi National Guard and the Royal Saudi Royal Commission, on the one hand, with the Belgian arms companies, “FN Herstal” and “CMI Defense”, was cancelled.
In mid-July, four civil society organizations concerned with human rights and against war sent an urgent appeal to the Belgian Administrative Court to cancel six licenses that allow the export of weapons to Saudi Arabia.
Human rights demands are mounting in Britain, France, Germany and other countries to halt military sales to the House of Saud due to the escalation of murders and bloody massacres in Yemen.
