Métis women confronting Belgium with its past | Africa | DW
They were born in Congo during the colonial period, to a Belgian father and a Congolese mother, and were separated from their mother about 70 years ago. Today, they are asking Belgium for financial reparations. For now, the state disputes the facts.
Lea Tavares Mujinga, Monique Bintu Bingi, Noelle Verbeken, Simone Ngalula and Marie-Jose Loshi are now grandmothers and their story begins a long time ago.
At the age of two or three, the five women were forcibly removed from their Congolese maternal families. Their fault: being born to a black mother and a white father.
The Belgian colonial administration tracked down this kind of case, taking children away from their mothers to intern them in Catholic institutions.
Colonial past
Today, the five women are planning a lawsuit against Belgium. They demand compensation of 50,000 euros each and full access to all documents likely to shed light on their history.
The trial, which began this Thursday (14.10) takes place in a context where Belgium is increasingly called upon to reassess its colonial past. It is in any case the first in Belgium to shed light on the fate of some 15,000 half-breeds born in the former Belgian colonies.
According to Colette Braeckman, a Belgian journalist who has worked extensively on the subject, ct is quite huge from the point of view of justice and Belgian opinion, but it is also the reality of colonization.
The Belgian state refuses to pay
For the moment, the Belgian State disputes the qualification of the facts. Sophie Calment, the partner of the lawyer for the five women, described the atmosphere in court on Thursday:
“Emotion, of course, but also the emotion of hearing the arguments of the Belgian State which unfortunately sticks to its positions and which considers that no fault has been committed. But in reality what the Belgian state mostly refutes is having to pay any damages.
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This trial comes two years after the official apology of the former Belgian Prime Minister, Charles Michel, who recognized the injustice and the suffering of colonization in the former Belgian Congo.
Before the court, the Belgian state also announced that in the event of a conviction, it would endeavor to reduce compensation from 50,000 to… one euro. The judgment is due in six weeks.