Mixed-race children from Belgium's colonial past in Africa will now be able to obtain a Belgian birth certificate free of charge, Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne announced on Monday.
A solution has been found in consultation with the Council of Public Prosecutors, for Métis, children born to a white father and a black mother during the colonial period, to obtain their birth certificates, the minister said.
During the colonial period, the Belgian state took thousands of mixed-race children away from their mothers, judging that they could not raise children of part-European origin.
Placed in institutions or with foster families, most of these children, without birth certificates, have lived in legal uncertainty ever since, as municipal administrations cannot issue birth certificates retroactively.
According to the Minister of Justice, the imbroglio, which has been put on the table for years by associations, will finally find a solution thanks to a combination of Articles 26 and 35 of the Civil Code and Article 138bis of the Judicial Code.
Article 138bis of the Judicial Code provides that the Public Prosecutor's Office can intervene ex officio whenever 'public order' requires its intervention.
The College of Public Prosecutors will now consider the destruction or absence of a birth certificate as a matter of public order 'because this act was, at the time, the responsibility of the 'colonial/executive power,' according to a press release from the Minister.
On this basis, the Public Prosecutor's Office can now apply to the Family Court for a birth certificate. The persons concerned will not have to start legal proceedings or bear the costs, Van Quickenborne said.
"When a mixed-race person applies for his or her birth certificate and the local authority finds that it is missing, this will be reported to the local prosecutor's office, which will take the necessary steps, through the family court, to apply for a new birth certificate," he explained.
