Crime in Belgium
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Crime in Belgium is countered by the Belgian Police and other agencies.
Crime by type
Murder
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In 2012, Belgium had a murder rate of 1.8 per 100,000 population.[1] There were a total of 182 murders in Belgium in 2012.[1]
Theft
Muggings, purse snatchings, and pocket picking occur frequently, particularly in major cities. Thieves often loiter in transportation hubs like the Metro (subway) and train stations to take advantage of disoriented or distracted travelers.[2]
Corruption
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Public trust in the civil service and the judiciary is low, and perception of corruption is high in Belgium.[3]
Crime dynamics
Crime and racial tension
A study based on data from 1999 concluded that minors of non-European nationality were overrepresented in crime statistics.[4] While 4.4% of the Belgian population has a non-European nationality, 19% of all prosecuted cases, and 24% of cases presented in youth court involved non-European nationals.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Terrorism and crime
Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". Besides general safety issues in some boroughs, Brussels reportedly serves as a hub for terrorists, as reported by various sources such as Interpol, and local newspapers such as Het Nieuwsblad. In the same boroughs that pose safety problems (e.g. Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Schaerbeek, ...) there is radicalisation.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". This remains however very limited in scale, the occurrence of Belgian nationals directly linked to international terrorism hovering around 0.1-1 per million inhabitants for the last decade.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
The two Tunisian nationals who assassinated Commander Massoud in Afghanistan had fake Belgian passports, and the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM) has links in Belgium too - there were arrests in Brussels and Antwerp of individuals involved in the Madrid bombing.[5] As a result, stringent measures were taken against passport and other official documents forging.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Belgium has also seen hate crimes against visible minorities recently, including the Hans Van Themsche case, the Patrick Mombaerts case or other acts of racist violence.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Crime and politics
Much reported in newspapers were mayor Philippe Moureaux of Molenbeek's failed attempts at revitalizing the Brussels municipality. In June 2011, the multinational company BBDO, citing over 150 attacks on their staff by locals, posted an open letter to Moureaux, announcing its withdrawal from the municipality.[6] As a result, serious questions were raised about governance, security and the administration of Moureaux.[7] Following a general decrease in crime, the company finally decided to remain in Molenbeek.[8]
This played in a wider context of left-right wing political discord lining up with Belgium's Flemish-Walloons language conflict. The case became emblematic of perceived Walloon socialist plotting to let neighbourhoods degrade (by inviting immigrants and offering them social security) to create socialist-voting poor constituents. The Walloon side thought it showed how Flemish media, mostly controlled by openly nationalist families, push a right-wing and xenophobic agenda.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
By location
Brussels
According to Urban Audit, in 2001, Brussels had the fourth highest number of recorded crimes of European capitals (behind Stockholm, Amsterdam, and Berlin, and virtually on a par with Helsinki). According to the same source, Brussels had a rate of 10 murders or violent deaths per 100,000 citizens.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Usually, serious safety issues in Brussels are mostly limited to residential boroughs with a low income population.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Other cities
Belgium's second largest city, Antwerp, saw crime rates about 20% below those of Brussels.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Liège and Charleroi, industrial cities with high unemployment rates, saw more elevated crime rates than the less industrialized cities of Ghent and Bruges.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". The rural areas are generally safe.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
See also
References
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- ↑ a b Global Study on Homicide. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2013.
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- Belgium USA Department of State. Template:Webarchive
- Urban Audit: How cities rank
- Template:In lang Abnormaal veel minderjarige allochtonen in criminaliteitscijfers, Het Laatste Nieuws.
- BBC News Belgian 'suicide bomber' is named.
- Belgian Federal Police (See Template:In lang versions for the most detailed statistics).
External links
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