Prepared by: ECF
The Belgian government is advancing a new legal mechanism, which allows the ban of “dangerous radical organisations”, following a proposal aimed at extending the list of terrorist organisations. The new bill would allow the government to dissolve “organisations or groups of extremists who threaten national security or the rule of law.” The law has been criticised by civil society for “the exorbitant power given to the executive without judicial oversight and the lack of guarantees for a fair trial” and the overly broad list of behaviours that could lead to dissolution. The legal proposal has been approved by the Belgian federal government as a draft law, and will now have to pass through the rest of the legislative process before becoming law. This new legal initiative comes in the context of increased repression of protests, which particularly affects the climate justice and the Palestinian solidarity movements.
