Belgium

State Party: yes
Date signed: Sept. 10, 1998
Date ratified: June 28, 2000

National Legislation

Act of 29 March 2004 on Cooperation with the International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Tribunals
Act of 5 August 2003 on Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law
The Belgian Constitution
Code Penal
Loi contenant le Titre preliminaire du Code de Procedure Penale
Circulaire relative à la coopération avec la Cour pénale internationale et les tribunaux pénaux internationaux
Loi modifiant certaines dispositions de la loi du 17 avril 1878 contenant le Titre préliminaire du Code de procédure pénale, ainsi qu'une disposition de la loi du 5 août 2003 relative aux violations graves de droit international humanitaire
Loi modifiant la loi du 16 juin 1993 relative à la répression des violations graves du droit international humanitaire et l'article 144ter du Code judiciaire
Loi relative à la répression des violations graves de droit international humanitaire
Royal Decree on the organization of the Belgian Task Force for International Criminal Justice (BTF ICJ)
Arrêté Royal portant organisation de la Belgian Task Force for International Criminal Justice (BTF ICJ)

Overview

Belgium first introduced legislation on international crimes with the implementation of the Geneva Conventions and its Additional Protocols in 1993. Since then, Belgium has adopted and subsequently withdrawn controversial legislation, in particular with regard to universal jurisdiction and immunities. Belgium has a comprehensive corpus of legislation able to guarantee solid cooperation with the International Criminal Court and which enables the exercise of jurisdiction in accordance with the principle of complementarity. With regard to the crimes under ICC jurisdiction, the Belgian legislation provides much wider coverage in relation to non-international armed conflicts than the relevant Statute provisions. In respect of cooperation, Belgium has opted for direct references to the relevant Rome Statute Articles when dealing with some provisions (e.g. the rules governing competing requests) as opposed to enacting detailed domestic versions of the Statute provision itself.

Coverage

View relevant provisions here.