Appeals court finds Belgium guilty of crimes against humanity in colonial Congo

A Brussels Court of Appeals this week ruled that the Belgium government committed crimes against humanity during colonization for its treatment of Métis, or mixed-race children, during colonial rule in Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. The case was brought by five Metis women born in the then colony between 1948 and 1952. Like thousands of Métis children born to European fathers and African mothers, they were taken from their Congolese mothers, forcibly placed in religious institutions and later abandoned. Geneviève Kaninda, Advocacy & Policy Officer for African Futures Lab which has been tackling global racial injustices across Africa and Europe, tells VOA’s James Butty, the court ruling highlights the importance of the right to reparations.