Ligue des droits humains and Défense des Enfants International Belgique · Judgment 30/2026
Belgian Constitutional Court · 12 March 2026
Two rights organisations challenged the law governing Belgium’s shared database on terrorism, extremism and radicalisation. One issue was what a person could learn after asking a supervisory body to check their data. Another was who had a say before a child of twelve or thirteen could be recorded.
Why a standard reply was insufficient
The law effectively allowed the oversight body to say only that checks had been carried out. The court held that more information must be possible where needed for an effective challenge and consistent with the public interests at stake. A person also needed access to a court with power to review the oversight body’s decision.
What changed for children
The court partly annulled the law. It identified missing safeguards including specialist input about minors and an independent magistrate’s involvement before a twelve- or thirteen-year-old could be entered. When children returned to Belgium from a conflict zone, access to the relevant data had to be limited to services responsible for their follow-up and protection.
The reach of the judgment
This was a challenge to legislation brought by organisations. It changed the safeguards governing many people’s records and left much of the database law in force. The judges did not decide whether any named child should be removed from the database.
Read the Constitutional Court’s official summary of judgment 30/2026
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