Albanese hails the parliament's passage of landmark legislation requiring social media firms to take 'reasonable steps' to prevent young teens from having accounts
world1 day ago
The Belgian state was ordered Monday to pay reparations to five mixed-race women who were forcibly placed in an orphanage 70 years ago under a colonial-era practice that judges said constituted a crime against humanity.
Reversing an earlier ruling that found too much time had passed since the alleged wrongdoing, the Brussels appeals court said the women, now in their 70s, were abducted in "an inhumane act of persecution."
The state's conduct constituted a crime against humanity and as such was not subject to a statute of limitations, in line with a UN resolution adopted after World War II, it found.
"The court orders the Belgian State to compensate the appellants for the moral damage resulting from the loss of their connection to their mother and the damage to their identity and their connection to their original environment," the court said in a statement.
The case was the first in Belgium to shed light on the fate of biracial children born in the former Belgian colonies (DR Congo, Rwanda, Burundi), who are thought to number around 15,000, though there has never been an official count.
Most of the children born of a union between a black woman and a white man were not recognised by their father and were not allowed to mix with either whites or Africans.
As a result, many were placed under state guardianship and put in orphanages usually run by the Catholic Church.
The five women at the centre of the legal case said they were taken away from their families, brought up in a convent, mistreated and then abandoned when the Belgian Congo gained independence in 1960.
"The appellants, born in the Belgian Congo, were abducted from their respective mothers, without their consent, before the age of seven, by the Belgian State," the court said.
This was "in execution of a plan to systematically search for and abduct children born to a black mother and a white father, raised by their mother in the Belgian Congo, solely because of their origins," it added.
The women had been demanding initial compensation of 50,000 euros ($55,200) each.
"We won", reacted Michele Hirsch, the lawyer of the plaintiffs, in a message to AFP.
Belgium apologised to the mixed-race descendants of its white colonists in 2019.
Albanese hails the parliament's passage of landmark legislation requiring social media firms to take 'reasonable steps' to prevent young teens from having accounts
world1 day ago
He was the head of the Israeli army between 2002 and 2005, just before Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza
world1 day ago
Sunghay expresses concern about the levels of hunger, even in areas where aid agencies have teams on the ground
world1 day ago
Two children killed in missile attack on encampment in Khan Younis, say medics
world1 day ago
The 2004 attack targeted a rally by Hasina's Awami League party, which was in opposition at the time, and the blast occurred just as Hasina was finishing her speech
world1 day ago
Several companies came under fire after the October 29 catastrophe for ordering employees to keep working despite a red alert issued by the national weather agency
world3 days ago
The first attempt to change the law in a decade has caused a national debate in the country
world4 days ago
A woman and a child were killed in tank shelling that hit western areas of Nuseirat, according to medics
world4 days ago