IRSD-KHID-RHID

Biography

Stan Brabant is a research fellow on the Sahel-Saharan Strip region at the Centre for Security and Defence Studies (CSDS).
Between 1994 and 2010, he worked for Handicap International (also known as Humanity & Inclusion). He first served in Cambodia and Afghanistan, within landmine clearance and risk reduction programmes. From 2000 to 2010, he led the organisation’s Policy Unit, in charge of research and advocacy on the humanitarian impact of landmines and cluster munitions. He was part of the editorial board of the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor and served as researcher and thematic coordinator. He also initiated several research projects on the humanitarian impact of landmines and cluster munitions and launched the Ban Advocates initiative, a pilot project enabling the participation of persons affected by cluster munitions in the ‘Oslo process’, which led to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions.
In 2010, Stan joined the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a senior technical advisor to the National Regulatory Authority for UXO/Mine Action Sector in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. In this role, he focused his efforts on assisting the Lao Government with its implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and its presidency of the first Meeting of States Parties to the Convention.
Stan then served for seven years as Executive Director of Amnesty International’s Luxembourg section, a period during which the section devoted particular attention to human rights defenders at risk in Europe, Russia and the Middle East. He also initiated a research project on the links between banks, arms and human rights.
In 2019, Stan moved back to Brussels where he developed the Observatoire des armes wallonnes (Walloon Arms Monitor), a civil society-based initiative hosted by Amnesty International, which assesses the Walloon Region’s compliance with its obligations related to arms exports. Stan wrote nearly all the 2019 to 2024 reports of the Walloon Arms Monitor.
In 2020-2021, Stan contributed to the financial rescue of the Groupe de recherche et d’information sur la paix et la sécurité (GRIP), where he also conducted research on autonomous weapons.
Stan holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), two master’s degrees in political science and international relations (Université catholique de Louvain) and a certificate of advanced management (ICHEC-Entreprises). Stan joined the CSDS in March 2025.

Expertise

Human rights
Humanitarian impact of weapons
Mine action
Arms exports
Autonomous weapons

Publications

Stan Brabant, François Graas et al., Observatoire des armes wallonnes (Bruxelles : Amnesty International, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023 & 2024), https://www.amnesty.be/campagne/pour-controle-ventes-armes/observatoire-armes-wallonnes.

Stan Brabant et al., Circle of Impact: The Fatal Footprint of Cluster Munitions on People and Communities (Brussels : Handicap International, 2007), http://reliefweb.int/report/world/circle-impact-fatal-footprint-cluster-munitions-people-and-communities.

Stan Brabant, « Robots tueurs : bientôt opérationnels ?, » Note d’analyse (Groupe de recherche et d’information sur la paix et la sécurité), 29 mars 2021, https://grip.org/robots-tueurs-bientot-operationnels/.

Stan Brabant, “The Ban Advocates: cluster munitions victims’ commitment to the implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” Disarmament Forum, no. 1 (mars 2010): 3-12, https://www.unidir.org/files/publications/pdfs/implementing-the-convention-on-cluster-munitions-en-318.pdf.

Stan Brabant, “What do survivors think of cluster munitions?,” Disarmament Insight, October 22, 2007, https://disarmamentinsight.blogspot.com/2007/10/.

Stan Brabant, “Learning How to Respond to the Needs of Mine-Affected Communities,” Journal of Mine Action 9, no. 1 (September 2005), 50 & 103, http://www.jmu.edu/cisr/journal/9.1/Focus/brabant/brabant.htm.