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14 February 2022

Belgium: Colonial Past Commission addresses issues raised by Belgian-Congolese and Belgian-Rwandan "metis" people

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The Federal Parliament’s "Colonial Past Commission" is currently working on the sensitive issue of the fate of the Belgian-Congolese and Belgian-Rwandan born before the independence of both countries.

Belgian-Congolese and Belgian-Rwandan "metis" associations are requesting the production of birth certificates based on the national register for Belgian biracials who were born in Congo or Rwanda to a Belgian father, and who were evacuated to Belgium at the time of independence. This problem emerged with the digitalisation of the national archives in the 1990s: until then, a baptism certificate issued in Congo or Rwanda was sufficient. The situation affects these individuals' everyday life in Belgium as, for example, a birth certificate is necessary in order to get married or re-married.

The Ministry of Justice has declared that a solution is in sight, four years after the Parliament passed a resolution on the segregation of biracial people from Belgium's colonial past in Africa. The issue of the metis returned to the agenda when this special commission was created in summer 2020, in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement that had strong repercussions in Belgium. The commission is supposed handle a multitude of subjects related to colonisation and its ongoing consequences in Belgium.

Ten experts and scientists were commissioned to guide parliamentarians in their work. Their report, published in 2021, calls for "more accurate understanding of the concrete realities of the colonial period and their long-term impact" and "a work of remembrance and reparation that can be undertaken today in the framework of the Special Commission", and invites us to question the links that exist between colonialism and racism in Belgium.

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Belgium
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Posted by
Julie Minders
Country Coordinator

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