The Brussels Court of Appeal on Monday held the state accountable for the systematic
abduction of “metis” children, those of mixed European and African heritage, from their mothers during the colonial era in Belgian Congo.
The case was brought by five women who were forcibly separated from their mothers in the Belgian Congo before the age of seven. The court found that their abductions were part of a deliberate and systematic plan orchestrated by the Belgian state to remove children born to black mothers and white fathers from their families.
“Their abduction is an inhumane and persecutory act constituting a crime against humanity under the principles of international law,” the court said in a press statement.
The Belgian state was ordered by the court to compensate the plaintiffs for the moral damages they suffered. These include the profound loss of connection to their mothers, the disruption of their identities and the severing of ties to their cultural heritage.
The women who had brought the complaint had asked for 50,000 Euro or about 41,000 pounds as initial compensation. It’s not clear what the final settlement could be.
Most white fathers refused to acknowledge the children they had from African women. The children also did not receive Belgian nationality and during their time in state institutions and church-run orphanages, endured horrific abuse. The Catholic Church apologised in 2017 for the abuse the children had endured.
The court ruling overturned a 2021 one that had determined that the case was time-barred.
In 2019, Belgium issued its first official apology for the abduction of thousands of mixed-race children from Congo between 1959 and 1962, acknowledging its role in the segregation policy that placed “metis” children in Catholic-run schools and orphanages in Belgium.
This included 20,000 victims from the Congo, Burundi and Rwanda. Cong was a colony of Belgium from 1908 to 1960.
With Reuters inputs
