Belgium Grapples with Organized Crime Groups: Foreign Actors Play a Significant Role

Belgium has long struggled with organized crime groups, and recent reports suggest that foreign actors are increasingly involved in the country’s criminal markets.

Foreign Influences

Balkan organized crime groups have formed alliances with Italian mafias and Turkish criminal organizations, primarily engaging in drug trafficking, arms trafficking, and human smuggling.
Dutch organized crime groups have been linked to all aspects of drug trafficking, including cannabis production, importation, exportation, and synthetic drugs export. Money laundering and labor exploitation are also significant concerns.
Romanian organized crime groups have been involved in human trafficking, the sexual exploitation of women, and labor exploitation of men.

Competition Between Italian and Albanian Organized Crime Actors

The competition between Italian and Albanian organized crime actors has escalated in recent years, with attempts to control the drug trafficking market leading to violent clashes. This intensified competition is expected to have long-term implications for the country’s criminal landscape.

Belgium’s Mafia-Style Groups Still Active

Despite efforts by the German and Dutch governments to crack down on these groups, recent arrests and seizures suggest that Belgium-based mafia-style groups, including biker gangs, are still active in the country. These groups engage in a range of criminal activities, including arms and drug trafficking, as well as sexual exploitation.

Collaboration between Criminal Groups

Collaboration between Belgian and Spanish criminal groups has also been reported, with concerns that these groups may have overlapping membership with lower-level state institutions.

Private Sector Involvement Limited

While private sector actors are not significantly involved in Belgium’s criminal markets, there have been reports of money laundering schemes involving real estate transactions in Dubai. State-embedded actors in Belgium reportedly play a minimal role in organized crime.

Leadership and Governance

Belgium has recognized organized crime as a significant issue and has taken steps to combat it, with the government declaring it a priority. The country is known for its good governance and commitment to protecting human rights, but there are areas for improvement, including transparency in parliamentarians’ contacts and asset declarations.

Criminal Justice and Security

Belgium’s judiciary is fully independent, ensuring due process in criminal trials.
The federal public prosecutor’s office has a dedicated unit focused on organized crime, while the country’s law enforcement agencies are working to improve cooperation and information sharing.

Belgium has implemented various policies to assist victims of human trafficking and punish perpetrators. However, the low number of individuals who have entered the victim procedure can be attributed to beliefs in migration myths, victims’ dependence on smugglers, and police officers’ lack of knowledge and limited opportunities to offer appropriate support.

Civil society plays an important role in providing support services to vulnerable groups, but press freedom has retreated due to increasing police violence, online hate against journalists, and a government directive that violates the Constitution’s stipulation of press freedom.
Journalists covering demonstrations have been subjected to intimidation and violence from protesters.