“Ceci n’est pas un état d’urgence” - Analysis of the Belgian legal framework for the fight against terrorism
The recent wave of attacks has not failed to spark a debate in Europe on the establishment of a so-called state of emergency. Belgium has not escaped this, in particular because of the attacks in Paris on 13 November 2015 and those in Brussels on 22 March 2016. The city of Brussels also experienced exceptional circumstances from 21 to 26 November 2015. During these days the maximum level of threat was declared on the territory of the capital and its surroundings, the threat of attack having been deemed "serious and imminent" by the Belgian Coordination Body for Threat Analysis (OCAM). However,... Mehr ...
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Dokumenttyp: | lecture |
Erscheinungsdatum: | 2018 |
Schlagwörter: | Constitutional law / State of emergency / Terrorism / Law / criminology & political science / Public law / Droit / criminologie & sciences politiques / Droit public |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Permalink: | https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26503859 |
Datenquelle: | BASE; Originalkatalog |
Powered By: | BASE |
Link(s) : | https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/225858 |
The recent wave of attacks has not failed to spark a debate in Europe on the establishment of a so-called state of emergency. Belgium has not escaped this, in particular because of the attacks in Paris on 13 November 2015 and those in Brussels on 22 March 2016. The city of Brussels also experienced exceptional circumstances from 21 to 26 November 2015. During these days the maximum level of threat was declared on the territory of the capital and its surroundings, the threat of attack having been deemed "serious and imminent" by the Belgian Coordination Body for Threat Analysis (OCAM). However, Belgian constitutional law does not explicitly enshrine a specific provision concerning a state of emergency. While Belgian constitutional law does indeed mention a "state of war" in Article 167 of the Constitution, there is no temporary regime which could be described as a state of emergency and which would allow a restriction of fundamental rights. Article 187 of the Constitution provides instead that "the Constitution may not be suspended in whole or in part" (Section 1). In other words, security management must be deployed in accordance with the usual constitutional and legal requirements. To enable rapid and coordinated assistance during an emergency situation, plans are therefore drawn up for coordination between various actors, namely the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Justice, public prosecutors, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Defence, the intelligence services, the federated entities and the municipalities and provinces. For example, exceptional measures such as the cancellation of artistic performances rest on the shoulders of the mayors within the framework of their police prerogatives, if they consider that the event may represent a disturbance of public order or that it is not possible to ensure security. Such measures must nevertheless be taken in accordance with the fundamental freedoms of the Kingdom. The events of the last four years, i.e. the attack on the Jewish Museum in Belgium on 24 May ...