Belgian Anti-Racism Law

The Belgian Anti-Racism Law, in full, the Law of July 30, 1981 on the punishment of certain acts inspired by racism or xenophobia, is a law against hate speech and discrimination passed by the Federal Parliament of Belgium in 1981 which made certain acts motivated by racism or xenophobia illegal. It is also known as the Moureaux Law, as it was proposed to the Parliament by Justice Minister Philippe Moureaux.

The first Belgian law proposal against racism was introduced in the wake of the signature by Belgium of the 1965 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination at the Chamber of deputies by the Socialist MP Ernest Glinne on December 1, 1966, at the request of the MRAX (Movement against racism, antisemitism and xenophobia, Belgian equivalent of the French MRAP) which had prepared the proposal. The law proposal was introduced twice in 1966–1967 and again twice in 1968–1969.

On July 20, 1980, a terrorist attack against Jewish children took place in Antwerp (Lamorinièrestraat), then a French-Algerian man was killed on December 4 in Brussels by members of the extreme right wing Front de la jeunesse, and a large antiracist demonstration took place in Brussels. The Justice Minister took the opportunity of this public mood to introduce the law project before the Parliament without consulting the Prime Minister, and only a few right-wing MPs opposed it, according to him "the far right, some right-wing liberals and a group of Flemish Christian Democrats MPs who had closed links with the South African apartheid regime".

Among others, the following acts were made illegal by the Anti-Racism Law:

The circumstances given in Article 444 of the Belgian Penal Code are as follows: either in public meetings or places; or in the presence of several people, in a place that is not public but accessible to a number of people who are entitled to meet or visit there; or in any place in the presence of the offended person and in front of witnesses; or through documents, printed or otherwise, illustrations or symbols that have been displayed, distributed, sold, offered for sale, or publicly exhibited; or finally by documents that have not been made public but which have been sent or communicated to several people.

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