Belgium apologizes for having kidnapped thousands of children …

The Belgian government apologized for kidnapping and abusing thousands of children born in Congo, Burundi and Rwanda in the 40s and 50s of the last century. It is estimated that around 20,000 children, children of Belgian settlers and black women, were systematically kidnapped and sent to Belgium by order of the authorities of that country and ended up in orphanages or adoptive families. In most cases, organizations of the Catholic Church participated as intermediaries.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel apologized to the Federal Parliament for violating the human rights of children, who no longer received Belgian citizenship and grew up as stateless citizens. In his speech, Michel said the excuses "represent a step forward in the awareness and recognition of this part of our history".

Last year, the Belgian Parliament adopted a resolution to help trace the families of origin and grant citizenship to all victims.

It is estimated that between ten and fifteen million people were killed during the colonial period in what was the Belgian Congo. The Democratic Republic of the Congo was a colony of Belgium from 1906 to 1960, when it became independent. Burundi and Rwanda were under Belgian command until the early 1960s.

"On behalf of the federal government, I apologize to the Métis of the Belgian colonial period and their families for the injustices and suffering they have suffered."

During those years, Belgium forcibly separated children known as "half-breeds", considered to be half-breeds because they were children of white settlers and black townspeople. "On behalf of the federal government, I recognize the targeted segregation and forced removal policy of the Métis under the colonial regime of the Belgian Congo and Rwanda-Urundi," Michel said using the names under which the affected countries were known in the colonial era

"On behalf of the federal government, I apologize to the Métis people of the Belgian colonial period and their families for the injustices and suffering they have suffered," he told parliament. The Prime Minister's apology represents the first time Belgium has badumed historical responsibility for damage caused by Central African societies.

Belgium's request for pardon came as a result of a report issued by the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent. "We urge the government to apologize for the atrocities committed during the colonization," they asked the commission.

The report states that "it is obvious that racial discrimination is endemic in Belgian institutions". "The root causes of current human rights violations are the lack of recognition of the true scale of violence and the injustice of colonization," the document says.