The commission opened a new part of its work, a few weeks after a trip by the King to the Democratic Republic of Congo during which the head of state expressed “regrets” about colonization. The theme remains controversial in the population but also in the political world. Belgium’s leading party – the N-VA – thus declined last week the invitation to a commission mission scheduled for early September in Central Africa, citing its refusal to participate in any process of financial reparation.

It seems difficult to establish a legal responsibility of Belgium – within the meaning of the civil code – for its colonial policy. It was not until December 1960 that the United Nations established the illegality of colonialism. The text with declaratory value. The Congo became independent in June 1960, Rwanda and Burundi will have to wait until 1962. “Obviously I am not saying that the colonial administration is immune to criticism but, from the point of view of independence , Belgium has not abusively maintained its colonies”, underlined Professor Pierre d’Argent (UCLouvain). The same goes for crimes against humanity, a concept created in the aftermath of the Second World War. The only period which could, if necessary, engage Belgian responsibility would be that of the Congo Free State, created by Leopold II in 1885 and which ended in 1908. Numerous abuses were committed under this regime, in violation of the texts of the time who entrusted this vast territory to the King. But here again, the problem remains complex: how to establish the damage, who are the beneficiaries today, and so on. ?

The analysis is based on the jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice. This strict approach is contested. “This does not take into account the fact that colonialism or the slave trade were based on rules of law that are not universal. It was those who practiced the slave trade who established the legality of these acts. To me, it doesn’t make sense to consider that it was legal a few hundred years ago because it was practiced a few hundred years ago”, remarked William Schabas (Middlesex University, London).

South Africa or several Latin American States have embarked on the path of transitional justice, a concept encompassing the measures taken by a country to achieve justice, reconciliation, etc., after an authoritarian regime that has led to serious human rights violations. Whatever forms it takes (apologies, commemorations, financial compensation, etc.), reparation is always the result of a process that takes time, warned Mr. Parmentier…

This concept is also highly contested. Several speakers followed one another to say how badly they thought of transitional justice, recalling that it was often a palliative for amnesty laws. To hear Patricia Naftali (ULB), you have to see in it a model promoted by “a mostly white globalized elite” that has become a “market” since the 1990s. Like Astrid Jamar (UAntwerpen) and Véronique Arnould (Avocats sans borders), it has encouraged parliamentarians to side with the populations that have been colonized. In this spirit, colonial racism still permeates Belgian institutions and the reparation cannot consist of an increase in development cooperation but rather in joint research on the teaching of the colonial period, the facilitation of visas for the populations of the former colonized countries, the fight against the discrimination that Afro-descendants still experience today in Belgium, etc.

“Afro-descendants do not have to suffer today from the racist and degrading imaginaries suffered by their ancestors. Apologies or regrets without a commitment to reparation would struggle to convince the recipient party. Only reparations can ensure that the interests that the deceased could not bequeath to their descendants,” noted Beninese historian Amzat Boukari-Yabara.