CONFIDENTIAL
BELGIUM
Report by HM Embassy, Brussels
General Observations (by Western European Department)
We would suggest two explanations for the Belgian per- formance:
a.
b.
a tradition of laissez-faire which has always sought to minimize the government's interference in the everyday life of the population;
the long-standing inter-community dispute which has probably stimulated the emergence of constitutional safeguards, eg the droit de reponse in order to guarantee the rights of Walloons and Flemings against other's aggression. Some of these safeguards, eg linguistic quotas in the civil service, could be in- terpreted as discriminatory in the sense of limiting the full exercise of other rights. But this is a little pedantic.
Right No.
(i)
A suspected criminal can be held in "preventive imprisonment" for up to 30 days, after which an order for his continued "preventive im- prisonment" must be renewed by the Chambre de Conseil every 30 days. It is thus technically possible that a suspect could be held for several months before he comes to trial, though it would be very unusual for him to be held for more than six months in this way; and even the decision of the Chambre de Conseil can be appealed against through another judicial body.
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(ii)
Torture is not used.
(iii)
There is no slavery.
(iv) Total freedom of information is guaranteed by Article 18 of the Constitution. The law on free dis- semination of information lays down that the news broadcasts of the two national radio and television organi- sations, Belgische Radio en Televisie (BRT) and Radiodiffusion Télévision Belge (RTB) "are to be given in a
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