Reparations for mixed-race children abducted by Belgium in its former colonies: Challenging an unfair and inaccurate judgment

In October 2021, the Tribunal of First Instance of Brussels dismissed the case of five mixed-race women, Marie-Josée Loshi, Noëlle Verbeken, Léa Tavares Mujinga, Simone Ngalula et Monique Bintu Bingi seeking reparations from the Belgian state. The state stood accused of committing crimes against humanity for abducting these women and placing them in religious institutions in the Congo (DRC) when they were just children, at a time when the Congo was a Belgian colony.

These women are among thousands of mixed-race children taken from their African mothers by the colonial administration in the DRC and in what was then Ruanda-Urundi between 1959-1962. With this practice of state-ordered targeted segregation and forced abduction, the Belgian colonial administration sought to isolate mixed-race children, who were considered at the time to pose a danger to the colonial order and a threat to white prestige.

The Tribunal of First Instance of Brussels dismissed the plaintiffs’ case on the basis that, at the time of the facts (1959-1962), the policy of kidnapping mixed-race children and placing them in religious institutions for racial reasons was not perceived by the Community of States as a crime against humanity, and therefore could not give rise to reparation. Furthermore, the Court ordered the plaintiffs to pay 6,000 euros in legal fees to the State. In July 2022, the five plaintiffs decided to appeal the Court’s decision.

We deem the judgment to be unfair and inaccurate as it considers that the policy of kidnapping mixed-race children for racial reasons was not perceived between 1959-1962 by the Community of States as a crime against humanity.

Even if this particular trial is specific to the case of five plaintiffs, it extends far beyond these five women, as other European colonial powers practiced identical or similar policies towards mixed-race children in their own colonies during this period. As such, challenging the Belgian court’s ruling not only allows us to support these five plaintiffs with legal arguments that can strengthen their claims, but also to prevent a precedent from being established for all (now adult) mixed-race children who may come before courts in Belgium, or elsewhere in Europe, to seek reparations. Supporting the case of Marie-José Loshi, Noëlle Verbeken, Léa Tavares Mujinga, Simone Ngalula et Monique Bintu Bingi means bolstering the strategies of all mixed-race children abducted by European colonial administrations who may be confronted to the same legal argument.

Through a partnership with the Legal Clinic of the Sciences Po Law School, - external link AfaLab will be working with Masters students over the course of an entire academic year to develop legal arguments in support of this case. This project is coordinated by Dr Anne-Charlotte Martineau, specialist in international law and Co-director of the Center for Legal Theory and Analysis at Sciences Po Paris.

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Dr Anne-Charlotte Martineau - external linkis a tenured researcher at CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique) and co-director of the CTAD (Centre de théorie et analyse du droit). Her field of interest is international law, in both its diachronic and synchronic dimensions. For the last couple of years, she has aimed to provide a counter-history of the relationship between slavery and international law. She is currently responsible of a research project (funded by the Institut des Études et de la Recherche sur le Droit et la Justice) to shed light on the juridical-theological language that was used to justify the setting up of the transatlantic slave trade in the 16th century.