BELGIUM: State Security violates privacy (1)
01 January 1991
BELGIUM: State Security violates privacy
artdoc March=1995
The Belgian intelligence and security services routinely violate
the privacy of thousands of citizens each year. That is the
conclusion of an annual report written by a permanent committee
established by the Belgian parliament to oversee the activities
of the security forces in the wake of the Gladio affair. The
report argues that tighter legislation is needed.
The report states that most of the people investigated by
intelligence services have no connection with any `subversive
organisation' but are ordinary citizens who apply for jobs within
sensitive areas, such as the NATO headquarters in Evere. The
people who are vetted stretch from top civil servants through to
cleaners. The committee complains that for the most part the
secret services carry out these investigations without any legal
framework or proper political supervision. The report also calls
for a clear definition of the secret services' general tasks, as
opposed to the use of such terms as `internal security of the
state' and `subversive activities' which the committee describes
as vague and potentially in conflict with a citizen's
constitutional civil rights.
De Morgen 24.10.94.
Statewatch, Vol 4 no 6, November-December 1994