The Brussels Court of Appeal has postponed a trial against the Belgian State over racial segregation in Congo during the colonial period to 9 and 10 September.
The five plaintiffs, who had their case dismissed at the initial trial, are seeking reparation from the Belgian state for implementing a harsh system of racial discrimination with heavy consequences on their lives.
Originating in 2021, this is the first claim of its type in Europe. The Brussels Civil Court dismissed the initial claim made by these five individuals, who are represented by barristers Michèle Hirsch, Christophe Marchand and Nicolas Angelet among others. The litigious group appealed the decision.
Born in Congo between 1946 and 1950, these five women are challenging the Belgian state on the grounds of crimes against humanity. They are demanding compensation for the immense harm caused when they were abducted and segregated. They are also calling for the release of archives detailing their origins and history.
Resulting from the union of a Belgian and a Congolese person during the period when Congo was a Belgian colony, these individuals were torn from their homes and forcefully placed in orphanages, like many young mixed-race children. According to official documents revealed by the plaintiffs’ lawyers from colonial archives, state officials organised the kidnapping of mixed-race children, enacted with the help of the church.
In 2018, then Prime Minister Charles Michel apologised on behalf of the Belgian state for the forced abduction and targeted segregation of mixed-race children in the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. The plaintiffs accept the apology as the first step, believing the next step must be reparation for the harm caused.
