Belgium: the mixed race of colonization, who remained in Central Africa, are the forgotten ones of reparations
The mixed-race people who remained in Central Africa are the forgotten ones of Belgium's reparations policies. This is the conclusion of a report published yesterday, Thursday April 4, by the NGO
African Futures Lab
, an organization raising awareness of the consequences of colonization. According to the association, reparations are not applied equally to mixed-race people living today in Belgium and those remaining in Central Africa.
Archives of Belgian colonization. Among the requests for reparation, the issuance of birth certificates to mixed-race people living in a legal limbo since their placement in religious institutions in Central Africa, and for some their sending to Europe with orphan status. © Laure Broulard / RFI
By: RFI Follow
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with our correspondent in Brussels,
Laure Broulard
In 2018, the Belgian Parliament adopted a
list of 11 recommendations
(non-binding) aimed at responding to the demands of mixed race people after the policy of segregation and forced kidnappings of which they were victims during Belgian colonization in the DRC, Rwanda and the Burundi. We are talking about thousands of children, torn from their African families, abandoned by their white fathers and forcibly placed in religious institutions because of their skin color.
Since then, the Belgian government has facilitated their access to colonial archives, supported a program to research their origins and granted several birth certificates to those who did not have one... Measures which, in fact, primarily benefit those currently living in Belgium.
According to Geneviève Kaninda, advocacy officer at
African Futures Lab
, the demands of the mixed race people who remained in Central Africa are ignored by the Belgian authorities. “
The first request concerns the question of nationality. They say that they have Belgian fathers, and that they should therefore be able to have Belgian nationality. There is also the question of health care support, whether physical or mental health, since they have after-effects of what they have experienced
.”
The NGO's report also points to gaps in reparations for African mothers whose children were taken away, often by force or without their informed consent, during colonization. “
Both in the
excuses of the Prime Minister at the time, Charles Michel
, and in the “mixed race resolution”, we talk about these African mothers. But in reality, no government action has been taken, even to begin with, to seek out the African mothers who are still alive, and to try to make reparations.
»
Also listen: Métis women demand compensation for the racist policies of the former Belgian Congo
In Belgium this time, the mixed race people are still waiting for the erection of a commemorative stele recalling their history, a measure which nevertheless appeared in the 2018 parliamentary resolution.
Also listen: Métis of Belgian colonization: blurred roots, broken lives
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