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Military weapons are an indispensable tool for the protecting of security, freedom, and peace, provided they are used in accordance with international law, human rights, and international humanitarian law. In addition, weapons of war can also fuel conflicts and can cause death and destruction. Because of this ambivalence, the production, trade, storage, and use of weapons must be regulated and controlled. States must ensure that only weapons that can be used in accordance with international law are produced, that they contribute to security, that they are traded, stored, and used responsibly, and that they do not end up in the hands of aggressors, terrorists, criminals, or war criminals.
Therefore, states have agreed to ban certain categories of weapons on humanitarian grounds, such as chemical and biological weapons, anti-personnel mines, and blinding laser weapons. Nuclear weapons are banned from testing, and possession is limited to 5 states. There are agreements aimed at the peaceful application of emerging technologies, and to combat illicit arms trafficking. States are also wary of costly and destabilising arms races that do not serve the objective of peace and security. Agreements often include commitments to transparency, confidence-building measures, victim assistance and mutual cooperation on peaceful uses.
The rules- and treaty-based international order is currently under intense pressure. Consequently, a series of arms control agreements have ended in recent years. Belgium strives to maintain the remaining arms control architecture and identify new opportunities. The fact that several arms control treaties were negotiated at times of great Cold War tensions can be a source of optimism.
For Belgium, armament or disarmament are not an end in themselves. The overall goal remains increasing security and protecting peace and freedom.
Arms control is done in several ways:
- Non-proliferation is stopping the proliferation of certain categories of weapons.
- Disarmament is the effective elimination or reduction of certain categories of weapons.
- Strategic export controls oversee international trade in military and dual-use goods (i.e. goods that can have both a civilian and military application).
- Confidence-building measures can, through transparency and predictability, reduce the risk of escalation and misunderstandings.
In this section, you will find information and clarification on the Belgian approach, more specifically on:
