Court to rule in November on Belgium’s racial policies in DR Congo
The Brussels Court of Appeal has closed the debates in the case brought by five victims of racial segregation in DR Congo against the Belgian state. The judgment will follow on 30 November.
The complaint addresses the period from 1948 to 1961, when the Democratic Republic of the Congo was a Belgian colony, and focuses on the policy of placing mixed-race children in Church-run religious institutions, a practice that was part of a racial policy implemented by the Belgian colonial administration.
The five women, now in their 70s, accuse Belgium of committing crimes against humanity. They seek justice, compensation and official recognition of these crimes.
"Our children and our grandchildren came here with us. It is important for us and our families"
On Tuesday, the Belgian state's defence made its case. Lawyers said the state did not dispute that the women were forcibly placed in orphanages by representatives of the colony, but they dispute the qualification of crimes against humanity. They asked the court to uphold the first-instance judge's ruling, which dates back to December 2021 and ruled that no crimes against humanity were committed and that the case was time-barred.
“It is very important to us that the fault of the Belgian state is recognised,” one of the five women said during the debates. “Our children and our grandchildren came here with us. It is important for us and our families. Without you, judges, we will not succeed.”
In 2019, then-prime minister Charles Michel apologised on behalf of the Belgian state for the forced abduction and targeted segregation of thousands of mixed-race children in Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. In 2022, King Philippe also expressed his "deepest regrets" for the pain inflicted during the country’s colonisation of the DRC, though he did not formally apologise for the exploitation, racism and violence.
Lea Tavares Mujinga, one of the five Belgian-Congolese women accusing the Belgian state of crimes against humanity, arrives at the Court of First Instance for a hearing in 2021 © BELGA PHOTO HADRIEN DURE
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