Brussels
Bowing to pressure from the U.S., Belgium this week said it would amend its “universal jurisdiction” law, which allows charges of war crimes committed anywhere to be brought in Belgian courts. Iraqi expatriates earlier this year charged President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with war crimes stemming from the Iraq war. Those cases were thrown out, but the U.S., fearing a rash of politically motivated lawsuits, threatened to move NATO headquarters out of Belgium unless the 1993 law was amended. Belgium has now agreed to limit the law’s scope to cases where Belgians are directly involved as victims or suspects. “Certain organizations have used this law in an abusive manner,” Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said. “Modifying the law will make that impossible.” There was no immediate U.S. reaction.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Gandhi arrests: Narendra Modi's 'vendetta' against India's oppositionThe Explainer Another episode threatens to spark uproar in the Indian PM's long-running battle against the country's first family
-
How the woke right gained power in the USUnder the radar The term has grown in prominence since Donald Trump returned to the White House
-
Codeword: April 24, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
