On December 2, 2024, Brussels’ Court of Appeal found the Belgian State guilty of crimes against humanity for the abduction of mixed-race children during the colonial rule in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Court ruled in favour of five women born to a black mother and a white father who were forcibly removed from their families and placed in religious orphanages before the Congo’s independence in 1960. Each plaintiff was awarded 50,000 euros in damages for the suffering caused by the loss of ties to their mothers, to their home environment, and their loss of identity.
This decision reversed the first instance judgment of December 8, 2021. In 2019, Belgium’s Prime Minister apologized for the injustice suffered by people of mixed ancestry born during the colonial period. It is estimated that thousands of children were affected by the policy of forced removals during Belgium’s rule over the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi.
