This article was a very surprising article which made me understand some of the effects of colonialism, even in the modern era. It talks about how children born to Belgian settlers and local women were forcibly taken to Belgium and fostered by Catholic orders and other institutions. The article further shows the negative impacts of colonialism at that period and how it has even carried into the modern day. The mixed-race children were taken to Belgium against their will and in some cases never received Belgian nationality and remained stateless. This is very sad considering that they were taken from their African mothers and lost contact with them forever. Another shocking revelation is that most of the fathers refused to acknowledge the paternity of their children. This left the children in a void and without any economic future in an unknown land. The prime minister did acknowledge that it was a violation of the basic child human right, and also talked about how they were stripped of their identity, stigmatized and split among their siblings. Many of them had no access to birth records and remained unable to find their mothers or their Belgian fathers. The Un demanded that Belgium apologize for all its atrocities during the colonial period, a move which wouldn’t repair the deep wounds
Source: BBC
I know this post was made a month ago but I just saw it. It is a very disheartening to hear how they violated those children’s rights, and all for the purpose of Belgium seemingly being a “more open and tolerant society. It is even more grave to hear none of the fathers claimed paternity. One interesting quote that the UN gave regarding apologies was: “The root causes of present day human rights violations lie in the lack of recognition of the true scope of violence and injustice of colonisation,” their report added. I believe this is important as its brings another level of awareness of current racial issues. Personally, this quote resonates with me as I have learned, and am still learning about the terrible effects that colonialism/imperialism had blacks as a whole as well as many other countries. I believe the key part to this quote is the recognition of responsibility, which is hard for people to accept. Today, I feel as if white people can be intolerant making claims such as “I wasn’t involved or not around at the time, so its not my problem,” or “It’s in the past.” This shows a lack of awareness in history that still has tremendous affects today. Look at the the mixed Belgians, who still suffer from colonialism. I hope that we can all recognize how history has gotten us here, and how past actions can guide us in the right direction
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47817530
Here is the BBC article link