BRUSSELS — Belgium apologized on Thursday for the kidnapping, segregation, deportation and forced adoption of thousands of children born to mixed-race couples during its colonial rule of Burundi, Congo and Rwanda. The apology is the first time that Belgium has recognized any responsibility for what historians say was the immense harm the country inflicted on the Central African nations, which it colonized for eight decades. Prime Minister Charles Michel offered the apology on Thursday afternoon in front of a plenary session of Parliament, which was attended by dozens of people of mixed race in the visitors gallery. “Throughout Belgian colonial Africa, a system of targeted segregation of métis and their families was maintained by the Belgian state and acts were committed that violated the fundamental rights of peoples,” he said, using the term for mixed-race people. “This is why, in the name of the federal government, I recognize the targeted segregation of which métis people were victims” under Belgian colonial rule in Africa, and “the ensuing policy of forced kidnapping” after independence, he added.<doc-sep>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium apologized on Thursday for kidnapping thousands of mixed-race children from Congo between 1959 and 1962, in a move to address the legacy of its often brutal 80 years of African colonization. Slideshow ( 8 images ) The apology was the first time Belgium has officially acknowledged responsibility for the policy of segregation under which ‘metis’ children were abducted from Congo and put in schools and orphanages in Belgium run by the Catholic Church. “In the name of the federal government, I present my apologies to the metis of the Belgian colonial era and their families for the injustices and the sufferings they have endured,” Prime Minister Charles Michel told Parliament as dozens of former abductees looked on. “I hope that this solemn moment will be an additional step toward an awareness and knowledge of this part of our national history.” Belgium’s colonial-era segregation laws banned interracial marriage, and children born from a Congolese mother and Belgian father were considered to represent the abuse of those laws and shipped away. Last year parliament unanimously adopted a resolution calling for the government to apologize and recognize the role played by Belgium and the Catholic Church during its colonial occupation of Burundi, Congo and Rwanda. Belgium’s rule in what is now Democratic Republic of Congo was particularly cruel, especially between 1885 and 1908, when the country, then called the Congo Free State, was run as a private fiefdom by King Leopold II. Slave labor to develop vast rubber reserves, maiming and torture cost the lives of between 10 million and 15 million people. Many in Belgium are unaware of its complicated past, and last February a U.N. Security Council panel of experts said in a report that racial discrimination was “endemic” in Belgium’s institutions. In December, Belgium reopened its Africa Museum after five years of renovations aimed at turning the institution from a pro-colonial exhibition into one critical of colonial rule. Critics say more still needs to be done, but Thursday’s apology was an important step forward for some. “I am very moved,” said metis Jeannot Cardinael who was present in parliament. “It is a recognition of what the Belgian state has done to us, in collaboration with the Church. They took away a part of our identity and now they admit that mistake.”<doc-sep>Belgian colonial rule of Congo was particularly brutal when it was known as Congo Free State between 1885 and 1908. An estimated 10 million Africans lost their lives when King Leopold II ran the country, now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo, as his own fiefdom.<doc-sep>Photo : Francois Lenoir ( Reuters ) It’s no secret that colonization has introduced unspeakable horrors to communities of color throughout the world. And while an apology could never remedy those atrocities, it can serve as the impetus for long overdue healing and accountability. Advertisement On Thursday, the New York Times reported that Belgium Prime Minister Charles Michel began the process of doing exactly that in front of a plenary session of Parliament, making it the first time the country acknowledged its grievous history against African nations. “Throughout Belgian colonial Africa, a system of targeted segregation of métis and their families was maintained by the Belgian state and acts were committed that violated the fundamental rights of peoples,” he said. “Métis” denotes a term used for people of mixed-race. “This is why, in the name of the federal government, I recognize the targeted segregation of which métis people were victims” under Belgian colonial rule in Africa, and “the ensuing policy of forced kidnapping” after independence, he continued. The prime minister announced plans to make resources available to finance additional research on the matter, as well as open up its colonial archives to métis people and offer administrative assistance to those seeking to gain access to their official records in order to attain Belgian nationality. With the growing African diaspora exploring colonial history and addressing the racism and discrimination that permeates European society, politicians across Europe are beginning to feel the heat. As such, Belgium has spent the past year taking the steps it believes are necessary to atone for an atrocious past in which it colonized Burundi, Congo and Rwanda for eight decades. From the New York Times: Some experts on colonial history noted that Belgium’s apology came late — nearly 60 years after the three countries gained independence. Racial segregation was a pillar of Belgian colonial rule, historians say. Until the late 1950s, the colonial authorities discouraged interracial romance and banned interracial marriage before the Catholic Church. Many white Belgian men, nevertheless, married black Congolese women according to local customs, producing children sometimes called métis. But in the eyes of Belgium, these children undermined official segregation policies and blemished the white race’s prestige, official documents from that time show. Fearing a repeat of the Red River Rebellion in Canada in 1869-1870, when métis people revolted and overthrew the local government, the Belgian authorities ordered métis children in Congo to be separated from their families, and from the black population as a whole. An estimated 10,000 to 20,000 children were segregated from their parents — most often from single African mothers — and placed in orphanages and schools predominantly run by the Catholic Church, historians said. “Children born out of parents of mixed color during colonial times were always considered as a threat to the colonial enterprise, to profits and to the prestige and the domination of the white race,” said Assumani Budagwa, 65, a Belgian engineer and amateur historian who was born in colonial Congo and whose family experienced the separation of mixed-race children. Advertisement In 2017, the Catholic Church apologized for its “participation” in the kidnapping and segregation of métis children, as well as it’s ban of mixed-race marriages. In a letter, the Belgian bishops stated: “Many never knew their mother or their father, and many mothers never saw their children again. For a long time, they couldn’t fully exercise their civic rights, and a large number later found itself on the margins of Belgian society in insecurity and hardship.” The letter said, “We present our apologies to those people for the part taken by the Catholic Church in these deeds.” Advertisement But while Belgium believes an apology is a step in the right direction, J.C. Karerwa Ndenzako, a spokesperson for the Burundian president, believes that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Advertisement “Excellency Prime Minister @CharlesMichel, apologizing over children snatched from their African mothers is not enough,” he tweeted on Wednesday. “The vileness of these acts is part and parcel of a far broader history. #Belgium should dialogue with #Burundi, #Rwanda & #DRC” Upon learning of Michel’s apology, Georges Kamanayo, one of the children who was taken to Belgium, called it the “ultimate recognition of an injustice”. Advertisement “We have felt like third-rate Belgians for a long time,” he told De Standaard.<doc-sep>
Belgium's Prime Minister Charles Michel delivers a speech at a plenary session of the Belgian Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, April 4, 2019. (CNN) — Belgium on Thursday apologized for the forced removal of thousands of children born to mixed-race couples during its colonial-era rule of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda. Prime Minister Charles Michel issued the formal apology during a plenary session at the Belgian Parliament in Brussels with dozens of those affected watching on from the visitors’ gallery. Belgium forcibly took away thousands of mixed-race children, known as “metis,” born to white settlers and black mothers in these Central African nations towards the end of its colonial rule between 1959 and 1962, a U.N. report said. The Catholic Church and other institutions then raised these children. “On behalf of the federal government, I recognize the targeted segregation and policy of forced abductions of the metis during the colonial rule over Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi,” Michel said using colonial-era names of the affected countries. “In the name of the federal government, I apologize to the metis from the period of Belgian colonization and to their families for the injustices and the suffering that they went through.” The Catholic Church previously apologized for its role in the kidnappings in 2016. The Prime Minister’s apology marks the first time Belgium is taking official responsibility for the harm it caused during its colonial rule in Central Africa. His remarks come shortly after a preliminary report released by the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent after experts visited the country in February. “We urge the government to issue an apology for the atrocities committed during colonization,” the report said. It added: “There is clear evidence that racial discrimination is endemic in institutions in Belgium. “The root causes of present-day human rights violations lie in the lack of recognition of the true scope of violence and injustice of colonization.” Belgium’s reign in Central Africa lasted from the 1800s to 1960 where King Leopold II exploited rubber and other resources. Millions were forced to labor under severe conditions where limbs were cut off for not meeting production quotas, and as many as 10 million people are believed to have died in just 20 years.