The people of the former

Congo Free State The Congo Free State, also known as the Independent State of the Congo (), was a large Sovereign state, state and absolute monarchy in Central Africa from 1885 to 1908. It was privately owned by Leopold II of Belgium, King Leopold II, the const ...

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

(sometimes including

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

and

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

) are individuals of mixed African and European descent, primarily born to Belgian colonial settlers and Congolese women. During Belgium's rule over the Congo, which began under

Leopold II of Belgium Leopold II (9 April 1835 – 17 December 1909) was the second king of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909, and the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908. Born in Brussels as the second but eldest-surviving son of King Leo ...

in the 1880s (known as the

) and continued after the territory was ceded to the Belgian state in 1908 (known as the

), colonial authorities enforced a rigid racial hierarchy. This led to a policy where thousands of mixed-race children, born to Congolese mothers and European fathers, were abducted from their families and placed in Christian religious institutions. These children, labeled as (

mulattoes ( , ) is a racial classification that refers to people of mixed African and European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the word is (). The use of this term began in the United States shortly ...

) or (

mixed race The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mul ...

), faced systematic discrimination and segregation, often losing all contact with their mothers and cultural roots. In 2018, five of them filed a lawsuit against the Belgian state, accusing it of

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

for its role in their abductions. Although Belgium apologized in 2019 for the treatment of these children, the government resisted financial compensation. A Brussels court initially ruled against the women in 2021, but in December 2024, the Brussels Court of Appeal found Belgium responsible for

due to its treatment of children, ordering compensation for the five women who had sued the state.

References

Belgian people Rwanda Burundi African people of European descent Belgian Congo people Congo Free State people {{Burundi-stub