The Belgian government has taken an active stance to protect and promote the rights of women and children. Domestic violence is a problem and in the government initiated a national plan to increase awareness. Belgium's equal opportunity law includes a sexual harassment provision, giving women a stronger legal basis for complaints.
Child protection laws are comprehensive, and governmental programs for child welfare are amply funded. The government also attempts to integrate women at all levels of decision-making and women play an important role in both the public and private sectors. Legislation prohibits discrimination based on race, ethnicity or nationality, and penalizes incitement of hate and discrimination.
First Belgian study to test use of preventive HIV medication
The constitution provides for the freedom of religion. Although minority rights are well protected in Belgium, extreme-right political parties with xenophobic beliefs have gained ground in recent years. In , there were several attacks on Jews and Muslims.
Every city or town in Belgium has a public assistance committee elected by the city or town council , which is in charge of health and hospital services in its community. These committees organize clinics and visiting nurse services, run public hospitals, and pay for relief patients in private hospitals. There is a national health insurance plan, membership of which covers practically the whole population.
Belgium – Snapping The Globe
A number of private hospitals are run by local communities or mutual aid societies attached to religious organizations. A school health program includes annual medical examinations for all school children. Private and public mental institutions include observation centers, asylums, and colonies where mental patients live in groups and enjoy a limited amount of liberty. A number of health organizations, begun by private initiative and run under their own charters, now enjoy semiofficial status and receive government subsidies.
The last of these, working through its own facilities and through cooperating agencies, provides prenatal and postnatal consultation clinics for mothers, a visiting nurse service, and other health services. Health expenditures were estimated at 8. As of , there were an estimated physicians, nurses, 70 dentists, and pharmacists per , people. The infant mortality rate in was 5 per 1, live births, one of the lowest in the world. Average life expectancy for that year was 79 years. There were an estimated deaths from AIDS in Belgium no longer has a housing shortage. In the mids, an average of over 60, new dwellings were built every year; by the early s, however, the government sought by reducing the value-added tax on residential construction to revitalize the depressed housing market.
Public funds have been made available in increasing amounts to support the construction of low-cost housing, with low-interest mortgages granted by the General Savings and Retirement Fund. The census reports a total of 4,, private, occupied dwellings in the country. The average household size is 2. Education is free and compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and Belgium has two complete school systems operating side by side. One is organized by the state or by local authorities and is known as the official school system. The other, the private school system, is largely Roman Catholic.
For a long time, the rivalry between the public and private systems and the question of subsidies to private schools were the main issues in Belgian politics. The controversy was settled in , and both systems are presently financed with government funds along more or less identical lines. Within the public system, there are also some variations in programming between the French community and the Flemish community. In both, the primary elementary school covers six years of study. In the French system, secondary school is divided into three levels, with each level lasting two years.
Following this course of study, a student may choose to continue in a one-year program for professional development, technical training, or preparation for university studies. There are also programs for artistic development. In the Flemish system, secondary students may choose between four educational tracks: general, technical, artistic, or vocational. Each track covers a six-year course of study. Most children between the ages of three and five attend some type of preschool program. The academic year runs from September to July.
The student-to-teacher ratio for primary school was at about in Total enrollment in tertiary education programs for was at about , There are large libraries, general and specialized, in the principal cities. Brussels has the kingdom's main reference collections, including the Royal Library founded in , with about four million volumes, as well as the Library of Parliament with , volumes, the Library of the Royal Institute of Natural Sciences , volumes , and the General Archives of the Kingdom, founded in , with , documents from the 11th to the 20th centuries.
Antwerp is the seat of the Archives and the Museum of Flemish Culture, which has an open library of 55, volumes. The university libraries of Louvain 1. The library of the Free University of Brussels has 1. Also in Brussels is the library of Commission of the European Communities. In addition, there are several hundred private, special, and business libraries, especially in Antwerp and Brussels, including Antwerp's International Peace Information Service with 25, volumes related to disarmament, and the library of the Center for American Studies in Brussels, with 30, volumes dealing with American civilization.
Belgium's or more museums, many of them with art and historical treasures dating back to the Middle Ages and earlier, are found in cities and towns throughout the country. Brussels' museums include the Royal Museum of Fine Arts founded , which has medieval, Renaissance , and modern collections; Royal Museum of Central Africa , which has rich collections of African arts and crafts , natural history, ethnography, and prehistory; the Royal Museum of Art and History , with its special collections of Chinese porcelain and furniture, Flemish tapestries, and of 18th-and 19th-century applied and decorative art; and the Museum of Modern Art , featuring 20th-century paintings, sculptures, and drawings.
International and domestic telegraph and telephone service, operated by a government agency, is well developed. In , there were an estimated mainline telephones for every 1, people. The same year, there were approximately mobile phones in use for every 1, people. National radio and television service is organized into Dutch and French branches.
Commercial broadcasting is permitted, hence costs are defrayed through annual license fees on radio and television receivers. There are two national public stations, one broadcasting in French, the other in Dutch. In addition, there are at least two Dutch-language, one French-language, and one German language commercial stations.
In , there were an estimated radios and television sets for every 1, people. About Also in , there were There were secure Internet servers in the country in The Belgian press has full freedom of expression as guaranteed by the constitution of There are some restrictions on the press regarding slander, libel, and the advocating of racial or ethnic hate, violence, or discrimination.
Newspapers are published in French and Dutch, and generally reflect the views of one of the major parties. Agence Belga is the official news agency. About weeklies appear in Belgium, most of them in French or Dutch and a few in German or English.
Evolution in the number of domain names
Their overall weekly circulation is estimated to exceed 6. There is a cultural council for each of the three official languages. Architects, painters, and sculptors are organized in the Association of Professional Artists of Belgium. Business and industry are organized in the Belgium Business Federation , the Chambers of Commerce, and the American Chamber of Commerce in Brussels, as well as on the basis of industrial sectors and in local bodies.
Among the latter, the Flemish and Walloon economic councils and the nine provincial economic councils are the most important. There are a vast number of national professional, trade, and industry associations for a wide variety of occupations and professions.
Annual report 2018
The many sports societies include the Royal Belgian Athletic League, the Jockey Club Royal de Belgique, and soccer, cycling, archery, homing pigeon, tennis, hunting, boating, camping, and riding clubs. Youth organizations include four branches of the World Organization of Scouting and an organization of Girl Guides. Veterans' and disabled veterans' associations, voluntary associations to combat the major diseases, and philanthropic societies are all active in Belgium.