Social

Home page

Social

Baku to host international conference "Belgian Colonialism: Recognition and Responsibility"

29 October 2025 10:05 (UTC +04:00)

For the first time on October 31, an international conference titled “Belgian Colonialism: Recognition and Responsibility,” dedicated to Belgium’s colonial past and its current severe consequences, will be held under the organization of the Baku Initiative Group, APA reports.

Representatives from Belgium’s former colonies — the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi — as well as diplomats and officials, will take part in the event.

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

At the conference, the atrocities committed by Belgium against the local population on the African continent — particularly in its former colonies such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi — including ethnic division policies, mass killings, and the plundering 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 ongoing exploitation of the resources of the mentioned countries as a result of Belgium’s neocolonial policies in the former colonial territories, the issue of bringing the demand for compensation owed to these peoples to the international arena, and the inclusion of this matter in the agenda of international organizations.

A day before the conference, on October 30, foreign guests will hold 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 will deliver 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.