Patriottenstraat
27, 2600 Berchem-Antwerpen
Maria-Hendrikaplein 5-6, 9000 Gent
Tel:
03 / 281 68 39
fax: 03 / 281 68 79
tel: 09 / 242 87 52
fax: 09 / 242 87 51
forum@vredesactie.ngonet.be
hans@motherearth.org
www.vredesactie.ngonet.be
www.motherearth.org
Contact
during action: 0479
/ 68 24 43 (Hans Lammerant – Forum voor Vredesactie)
Pictures on
www.indymedia.be
Footage with
Reuters.
The
biggest action on a nuclear weapons base in history of peace
movement
Kleine Brogel,
16 april 2001 - On Easter Monday 16 april a non-violent WAR CRIMES INSPECTION is
organised by Forum for Peace Action (Flemish branch of War Resisters
International) and For Mother Earth. 850 activists non-violently entered the
nuclear weapons base of Kleine Brogel and tried to inspect the nuclear weapons
deployed by the USA. This without permission from the Belgian or US authorities.
About 1500 people were present.
With this action
the organisers try to provoke a court case and to bring nuclear weapons to
court. These nuclear weapons are considered to be illegal weapons, after the
Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on 8 July 1996 on the
Legality of threat and use of nuclear weapons.
Parlementarians
from different parties (Greens, Flemish-Nationalists,Socialists) have openly
called to participate in this action of civil disobedience. Even the Flemish
minister of Culture Anciaux will be there to support the action. Local comittees
from all over the country have organised busses to the place of action and
several hundreds of activists are expected to come. This results in the biggest
action on a nuclear weapons base in the history
of the peace movement.
The judicial
authorities are not eager to prosecute war crimes of their own army, nor are the
political authorities willing to discuss the legality of their policy. By
consequence are our non-violent actions necessary to bring the juridical
arguments before the courts.
The nuclear
weapons are considered to be illegal weapons, after the Advisory Opinion of the
International Court of Justice on 8 July 1996 on the Legality of threat and use
of nuclear weapons. This Advisory Opinion does not state explicitly that nuclear
weapons are illegal weapons, but seen the interpretation that the ICJ made of
the rules of international humanitarian law, conclusion is an illegality in
practice. The basic rules of international humanitarian law are,
first, that always a distinction has to be made between combattants and
civilians and, second, that it is prohibited to use weapons causing unnecessary
suffering to combatants. The Advisory Opinion clarifies how these basic rules
have to be applied. The nuclear weapons on Kleine Brogel can never be applied
without breaking these rules.
To be prepared
for the use of nuclear weapons, training for and planning of such use, … comes
down to preparing war crimes and crimes against humanity. These crimes are part
of international criminal law and made explicit in the Belgian law on war
crimes. By consequence can everyone who participates in these facts, from
minister to pilot, be prosecuted before the criminal courts.
The Bomspotting
actions on Kleine Brogel are no isolated actions. As told before, the ICJ
delivered its Advisory Opinion about the legality of the threat or use of
nuclear weapons on 8 july 1996. One year later, on 8 july 1997, the NATO
government leaders received a citizens summons on their summit in Madrid,
summoning them to change their illegal policy. This citizens summons was
delivered by the ‘Nuclear Weapon Abolition Days’, an international network of
peace organisations. It was the start of a new international campaign to get rid
of nuclear weapons with the combination of juridical means and nonviolent
actions.
On this citizens
summons came no positive reaction. Since several ‘Citizen War Crime Inspections’
took place on nuclear weapon sites. In analogy with the UN-inspections for
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, these teams have the mission to search for
nuclear arms. Aim is to let international law be respected.
In Belgium Forum
for Peace-Action and For Mother Earth took up this campaign and organised for
the first time in 1997 inspections at the NATO in Brussels and the nuclear
weapons base in Kleine Brogel. Several inspections took place
since.
Since 1996
several parlementarian initiatives were taken to discuss the nuclear weapons in
Belgium and to check the legality of their presence on Belgian soil. The
parliamentarians Patrik Vankrunkelsven, Peter Vanhoutte, Eloi Glorieux, Leen
Laenens, Lode Vanoost, Michiel Maertens, Kris Van Dijck, Sven Gatz, Peter De
Ridder and Dany Vandenbossche write: “We tried in the Chambre, we tried in the
Senate. The several parliamentary questions received an evading answer.
Resolutions about the use of nuclear weapons were systematically delayed or not
treated. When we ourselves, as representatives of the people, tried to visit the
base of Kleine Brogel, acces to certain parts of the base was refused. On a
resolution of the Flemish parliament demanding the retreat of the nuclear
weapons, the federal government reacted with the traditional evading answer. The
debate on nuclear weapons is systematically avoided by the succesive governments
by the shamefull use of procedure-tricks. Kafka could take it as an
example.”
The
parliamentarians continue: “Because the Belgian government refuses to respect
international law concerning nuclear weapons, even refuses the debate, we as
civilians are placed in a situation of necessity who forces us to be civil
disobedient to prevent a greater crime.
If
the government refuses the debates with us as parliamentarians, then we have to
force a debate before the court as citizens. As parliamentarians we can no
longer let us put aside. We will without permission enter the military base
where 10 illegal nuclear weapons of mass destruction are deployed. We wil do
this on Easter Monday 16 april in Kleine Brogel together with the peace
activists of Forum for Peace Action and For Mother Earth. We call every citizen
to do the same.”