Statements from international organizations or foreign governments

Belgium Ordered to Pay Reparations for Colonial-era Kidnapping of Mixed-Race Children in Congo

Dec 2, 2024, 06:25 PM

A Belgian appeals court in Brussels has ruled that the Belgian state committed a crime against humanity by forcibly separating mixed-race children from their families during the colonial era in Congo about 70 years ago. The court ordered the government to pay reparations to five women who were taken from their Black mothers in infancy and placed in orphanages under a policy that affected up to 15,000 children in Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi. This landmark judgment marks the first time Belgium has been held accountable in court for human rights violations committed during its colonial rule. The women, now in their seventies, had sued the state for the suffering caused by their abduction and institutionalization. The court recognized that their forced removal constituted "a crime against humanity" and awarded them compensation. Belgium had previously apologized for these mixed-race kidnappings, but the ruling establishes legal culpability.