Belgium Loses Final Appeal Over Colonial-Era Forced Removal Case

Belgium has lost its final appeal over a ruling that found it responsible for forcibly removing five mixed-race girls from their families in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during colonial rule, declaring it a crime against humanity. The women were awarded compensation, in a decision described as historic.

Belgium has lost its final appeal against a landmark court ruling that found the state legally responsible for the forced removal of five mixed-race girls from their families during the colonial period in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The country’s highest court upheld the earlier judgment, confirming that the actions constituted a crime against humanity and rejecting the government’s attempt to overturn the decision.
The case centres on women born in the late 1940s during the period of Belgian colonial rule in Central Africa. At the time, colonial authorities implemented discriminatory policies targeting children of mixed African and European heritage. Many of these children were separated from their families shortly after birth or in early childhood and placed under state guardianship. In numerous cases, they were sent to orphanages or institutions that were often managed by religious organisations, particularly the Catholic Church.
The five women involved in this case testified that they were forcibly taken from their mothers and raised in institutional care, where they experienced emotional trauma, neglect, and a loss of cultural identity. They further stated that after years in institutional upbringing, they were abandoned without support following the independence of the Belgian Congo in 1960, leaving them to rebuild their lives without family connections or resources.
In 2024, a lower court ruled in their favour, finding that the Belgian state’s actions amounted to persecution and constituted a crime against humanity under international legal standards. The court ordered the government to pay €50,000 in compensation to each of the five women, recognising both the psychological harm and the long-term consequences of their forced separation from their families.
The Belgian government challenged the ruling, arguing against the legal classification and the responsibility attributed to the state. However, the appeal was rejected by the country’s highest judicial authority, bringing the long-running case to a close.
The decision has been widely described by legal experts and the women’s representatives as historic. Their lawyer said it represents the first time a European state has been formally held accountable for a crime against humanity committed during its colonial rule. The ruling is also expected to intensify public discussion about Belgium’s colonial history and its treatment of mixed-race children born in its former African territories.
Historical records indicate that thousands of children born to African mothers and European fathers in former Belgian colonies, including Rwanda and Burundi, were affected by similar policies. Estimates suggest that around 15,000 such children may have been separated from their families, although no official figures were ever established.
Under colonial rule, many of these children were not legally recognised by their European fathers and were often excluded from both white colonial society and local African communities. This social exclusion led colonial authorities to place them in institutions, frequently removing them from their cultural environments and severing ties with their families.
The case has also renewed scrutiny of Belgium’s broader colonial legacy in Central Africa. During the era of King King Leopold II, the territory that later became the Belgian Congo was governed as his personal possession between 1885 and 1908, a period widely criticised by historians for severe exploitation and human rights abuses. The region was later transferred to official Belgian colonial administration, where many of these policies concerning mixed-race children continued in different forms.
With the final appeal now dismissed, the ruling stands as a significant legal and symbolic acknowledgment of colonial-era injustices, reinforcing calls for historical accountability and recognition of victims who continue to seek justice decades after the events occurred.