Advice concerning the commemoration of the Centenary of the First World War

These last few years, the Flemish authorities and the Flemish Parliament have been preparing the coming commemoration of the Centenary of the First World War in 2014-2018. From the plans it appears that both are wholeheartedly behind the idea that the commemoration should spread a message of peace. The Flemish Peace Institute has taken a critical look at how this objective can be achieved, and issued an advice concerning the commemoration of the Centenary of the First World War. The Institute advises 1) to develop a coherent vision on how the Flemish authorities intend to give shape and content to a peaceful commemoration of the First World War; 2) that historians are more closely involved in the commemoration project; and 3) that, together with efforts already made on the level of foreign policy and tourism, the Flemish authorities make more of an effort than they do now with regard to other policy areas such as education, culture, youth and media. (Advice in Dutch)

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Advice concerning the draft for a Flemish Arms Trade Act

On 21 November 2011, the Flemish Government submitted a draft Arms Trade Act to the Flemish Parliament. This act should establish a legal framework for the Flemish arms trade (after regionalization of the competences on arms trade in Belgium in 2003, Belgian law remained valid pending regional legislation) and implement EU Directive 2009/43/EC, among others. In the run-up to this draft act, in May 2011 the Peace Institute was already asked for an advice concerning the preliminary draft of the act. Pursuant to this advice (see below), the Peace Institute is now also formulating recommendations for the eventual draft act submitted to the parliament. In general, the Peace Institute finds this to be a balanced draft act. The Institute has, however, formulated several crucial points of interest with regard to monitoring end-use, the scope of application (cf. the Common Military List of the European Union), terms of use of general licences, certification of companies and transparency. (Advice in Dutch)

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Advice concerning the preliminary draft for a Flemish Arms Trade Act

On 4 May 2011, the Flemish Peace Institute received a request from the President of the Flemish Parliament to provide advice on the preliminary draft Act concerning the import, export and transit of firearms, ammunition, defence-related materials, the associated technology and other equipment specifically intended for military use or for law enforcement purposes.

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