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When mentioning the port of Antwerp, its role as a central trading hub at the heart of Europe, and as a creator of jobs, make it an essential part of the socio-economic challenges of opening up to the world. However, these dynamics of globalisation are not without negative impact on the port as a facilitator of the marketing of world products. These products include diamonds, whose extraction conditions are the subject of human rights violations (Siegel, 2008) and for which the city of Antwerp is the world's largest commercial centre (Antwerp World Diamond Centre, 2016), and ivory, rubber, copper, and tin, which have historically enriched and embellished the city of Antwerp at the cost of the extreme violence and cruelty of the Belgian colonial administration in the Congo. In addition to this disastrous image of the port, and in the context of the war on Palestine, several NGOs including IPIS, Vredesactie, and Broederlijk Delen are increasingly alerting the world to the important role played by weapons trafficking by Israeli companies through the port of Antwerp. Given these constants where organised crime seems to be finding its way through the port, there is an urgent need to take action to put an end to the illicit and criminal supply of products such as arms. This session aims to facilitate a discussion on this issue and gain insights from speakers and analysts who have considerable experience in research on the relationship between the arms trade and human rights.
Invited speakers
Filip Reyniers has been the Director of IPIS since October 2012, managing the organization and coordinating research on conflict and development issues in sub-Saharan Africa. He previously worked with Amnesty International in Belgium, focusing on arms transfers and human rights, and contributed to the UN Arms Trade Treaty campaign. Reyniers holds degrees in Law and History from the University of Leuven and has completed advanced studies in security and defense. He also serves as a Board Member and Vice Chairman of the Flemish Peace Institute.
Hans Lammerant is a Policy advisor at Vredesactie. In recent years he researched and litigated on arms trade and the responsibility of states and companies to take violations of IHL and human rights into account.
Moderator
Divin-Luc Bikubanya is a Doctoral Researcher and Teaching Assistant at the Institute of Development Policy (IOB), University of Antwerp and a researcher at the Centre d’Expertise en Gestion Minière (CEGEMI), Université Catholique de Bukavu. Through a historical and microeconomic approach, his research focuses on informality in the extractive sector, (de)industrialization and governance of the construction materials value chain in the Great Lakes region of Africa.