5 Women Win Reparations From Belgium for Crimes Under Colonial Rule

In a landmark case, a court ruled that the women, now in their 70s and 80s, who were taken from their parents in Belgian Congo, were victims of a crime against humanity. A court in Brussels ruled on Monday that five mixed-race women, now in their 70s and 80s, were owed reparations from Belgium for crimes the state had committed against them under colonial rule in Belgian Congo. The women, the children of African mothers and European fathers, were taken from their parents by the Belgian authorities at ages as young as 2 and sent to religious schools hundreds of miles away that were run by the Catholic Church. They grew up in poverty and suffered from malnutrition and physical abuse, and their identities were hidden from them. The policy started in the late 19th century and continued until after Congo’s independence in 1960. The court said that Belgium had committed an inhumane act and an act of persecution that amounted to a crime against humanity. The five women won 50,000 euros, or about $52,000, each. “There is no doubt for the court that the appellants have experienced great suffering since, and as a result of, their kidnapping before the...