A Belgian court has ruled that the actions of colonizers in Congo were criminal.

In overturning the lower court's ruling from 2021, the judge stated that at that time, the government had a "plan for the systematic search and abduction of children born to a Black mother and a white father." This was reported by the media company RTBF.

The court ordered the state to compensate each woman with 50,000 euros for "moral" or emotional damages.

The women who sued the government are now in their 70s. They represent approximately 20,000 mixed-race children—known as métis—who were taken from their families in Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) between 1948 and 1961, on the eve of the country's independence from Belgium.

These children were placed in schools and orphanages run by the Catholic Church in Belgium.

The ruling by the Brussels Appeals Court has been described in publications as a "historic decision." For the first time in Belgium, and possibly in Europe, a court has condemned the crimes against humanity committed by Belgian colonial authorities.