The Brussels appeal court has convicted the Belgian state on account of the systematic abduction of Metis children in Congo. The five people who brought the case will all receive damages. By its judgement the Brussels appeal court has set aside a decision by a judge dating from 2021, which stated that the case was time-barred (i.e. too much time had passed since the events for a prosecution to be mounted).
The 5 women who sued the Belgian state were born in Congo, between 1946 and 1950, while it was still a Belgian colony.
They were all children born from a relationship between a Belgian man and a Congolese woman. They were taken away from their families and placed in orphanages.
The court ruled this involved ‘systematic abductions’ of children born from such a relationship. ‘These are crimes against humanity,’ it found.
The five plaintiffs are now awarded damages for the loss of the bond with their mother and the ‘negative repercussions on their identity and the link with their country of origin’.
What are Metis children’?
Metis children are children born in colonial times, sons and daughters of a Belgian father and an African mother. They were born in the late 1940s and 1950s in the then Belgian Congo or in Rwanda or Burundi, two states administered by Belgium under a UN mandate.
The Belgian state disapproved of relationships between Belgian men and African women and also felt that an African mother could not raise a child of partly European descent. As a result, many children were taken away from their mothers and grew up with missionaries.
Just before Congo became independent, hundreds of children were sent to Belgium. They grew up in foster homes, were adopted or sent to orphanages. All links with their mother and the country where they were born were severed. In Belgium, they were often not awarded Belgian nationality and faced administrative problems as a result.
‘This was wrong’
Jacqui Goegebeur, president of the association representing Metis children, voiced her relief at the court’s decision. ‘Finally I can say that what happened to me was wrong,’ she told VRT.
She feels that the fact that what happened to her is recognised as a crime, is especially important. ‘When I was 3 years old they fetched me together with police officers. They cut all ties to my mother and my family, and with Rwanda. I have borne that stigma all my life. Now I finally get the acknowledgment: this was wrong.’
Ms Goegebeur believes the ruling may have further implications. ‘Other countries, like Spain and Germany, recognise all their children regardless of where they were born. Belgium does not, even if there is evidence. This ruling means Metis children should be entitled to Belgian nationality.’
Complaint previously rejected
In late 2021, a lower court dismissed the 5 women's claim arguing the case was time-barred. At that time the court ruled that the Belgian state cannot be condemned for acts that were not punishable at the time they were committed.
Now the appeal court has decided otherwise. It finds that, based on international principles recognised by the United Nations, the case is not time-barred and condemns the Belgian state.
The recognition by a court that these were crimes is important for the victims, who asked for ‘recognition and acceptance of the truth’ in 2021. In 2017, the Belgian Church had apologised; two years later, the then prime minister Charles Michel also did so on behalf of the Belgian state.