Belgian arms produced in Egypt fuel human rights abuses, says report

A new report reveals that Belgian-designed weapons are flowing into Egypt through offshore production, circumventing arms embargoes against Cairo. These weapons are accused of fueling human rights abuses within Egypt.

The report, jointly released by two rights organizations, details that despite an arms embargo on Egypt since 2014, Egyptian authorities have used Belgian-designed small arms and light weapons (SALW) to commit human rights abuses over the past decade. The report indicates that arms manufacturers, including FN Herstal, Herstal Group, New Lauchaussee, and Nexter Group, have circumvented the embargo through offshore weapons production and the trading of intellectual property rights.

EgyptWide, a human rights organization, analyzed videos and images, documenting instances of Egyptian state actors misusing weapons in multiple incidents between 2013 and 2023, including FN FAL rifles and FN MAG machine guns. The report also points out that Egyptian military and police forces used Belgian-model firearms in counter-terrorism operations in North Sinai, resulting in extrajudicial executions, forced displacement of civilians, enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings.

The report also documents multiple incidents involving the use of Belgian machine guns to attack civilians in Kerdasa, Giza Governorate, in September 2013. The report cites a video showing security forces raiding a residential area during a police operation, deploying small arms and light weapons, "seemingly without taking or with very lenient measures to protect the life and safety of the area’s civilian residents."

The report details how Walloon arms companies exploit loopholes in arms production regulations to supply weapons to Egypt, enabling it to expand its weapons production and export weapons to conflict-ridden and volatile countries such as Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Somalia, and Eritrea. The report, titled "Abuse of License: Belgian Arms Production in Egypt Fuels Proliferation and Abuse," points out that global arms production lacks adequate policy regulation, and neither the 2012 Walloon Decree nor the EU Common Position 2008/944/CFSP make any provisions for offshore production and intellectual property rights. These gray areas mean that the Belgian arms industry enjoys "almost unregulated discretion" in the export of production materials and technologies.