BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 31. An international conference titled "Belgian colonialism: acknowledgement and responsibility," organized by the Baku Initiative Group, dedicated to Belgium's colonial past and its current serious consequences, is being held, Trend reports.
The event is being attended by representatives from Belgium's former colonies - Congo, Rwanda and Burundi, as well as diplomats and officials.
In total, the conference is being attended by specialists in international law, historians, researchers, civil society activists, and experts on reparations issues from eight countries.
To note, the Belgian colonial regime in the Democratic Republic of Congo led to the deaths of 10 million people, the amputation of tens of thousands of hands, and the plundering of cultural treasures. Colonial policies, such as the distribution of 600,000 ethnic identity cards in 1933 in Rwanda and Burundi, paved the way for genocide during the independence period (800,000 murders in 1994 and 150,000 murders in 1972). In the 1940s and 1950s, 20,000 mixed-race children were forcibly separated from their families and sent to Belgium. The Tervuren Museum in Belgium holds 180,000 artifacts looted during the colonial period. More than 40,000 cultural artifacts (masks, volunteer instruments) were looted in Rwanda and brought to the Tervuren Museum.
Will be updated