Foreign

Home page

Foreign

Baku hosts international conference on “Belgian Colonialism: Acknowledgment and Responsibility” -PHOTO

31 October 2025 09:41 (UTC +04:00)

Today, for the first time, an international conference titled “Belgian Colonialism: Acknowledgment and Responsibility,” dedicated to Belgium’s colonial past and its current severe consequences, is being held under the organization of the Baku Initiative Group, APA reports.

The event is attended by representatives from Belgium’s former colonies — the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi — as well as diplomats and officials.

In total, specialists in international law, historians, researchers, civil society activists, and experts on reparations issues from 8 countries are participating in the conference.

At the conference, the atrocities committed by Belgium in the African continent, particularly in its former colonies such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi — including the policy of ethnic division, mass killings, and the looting of cultural heritage — as well as the severe consequences of Belgian colonialism that persist to this day, will be discussed. At the same time, there will be an exchange of views on the continued exploitation of the resources of the mentioned countries as a result of the neocolonial policies carried out by Belgium in the colonial territories, the demand for compensation to be paid to these peoples for the damage caused, the bringing of this issue to the international arena, and its inclusion in the agenda of international organizations.

Note that a day before the conference, on October 30, foreign guests held discussions with the faculty and students at Baku State University on the topic “Belgian Colonialism in Central Africa and Its Severe Consequences Continuing to This Day,” and delivered lectures for the audience.

Recall that in a report prepared in 2019 by the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, it was stated that during Belgium’s colonial period in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, and Burundi, 10 million people were killed, tens of thousands had their hands cut off, an ethnic division policy — which has turned into a source of conflict today — was implemented, the local population was subjected to forced labor, 20,000 children of mixed marriages (metis) were abducted and separated from their local communities to be subjected to assimilation policies, and conditions for genocides were created. The report recommends that Belgium establish a commission to uncover the truths and facts, open its archives, and pay reparations.

The purpose of the conference is also to acquaint the public with the historical truths.