There will be no Mini Miss Belgium contest this year. The organizers of the controversial project announced in effect on Tuesday that they would provisionally renounce to the endeavour following the rejection displayed by political spheres.
“We want to let things calm down and take time to reflect on the future,” stated the organizers of the contest. Both the Federal Minister of Labour and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation announced their intention to hamper the contest denounced for the hypersexualization of children which it generally carries with it, a hypersexualization considered to be harmful to the development of the identities of the children who participate. “Following all the uproar in the press, the national committee of Miss Belgium has decided not to organize the election of Mini Miss Belgium this year,” said organizer Darline Devos. The decision is however not definitive. "Next year we will newly analyse the situation, but nothing is certain yet.”
A number of legislative projects, both at the federal and community levels, are however present in the channels for thwarting this type of contest in the future. According to Darline Devos, the controversy which emerged surrounding the initiative is in any case unjustified. “It would have been a charming day comparable to a school party or a youth movement. The children would have drawn pictures, learned dances, made photos, and been on stage,” she held. “The children would have gotten points for each of these contests, and the one with the most points would have in the end received the crown…”
(Source: Belga)
