Belgium refused apology proposal for slavery in its history

Political parties in Belgium could not agree on the proposal, which recommended that the country apologize for its colonial past.

More than 2 years of work on Belgium's confrontation with its colonial past and its apology has come to an end.

Established after the anti-racist demonstrations that started in the USA in 2020 and spread to Europe, the parliamentary commission held more than 300 meetings in 2 years on the fight against racism and the country's colonial past, had two expert reports prepared and countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. sent missions.

However, the proposals prepared at the end of these studies were not accepted at today's parliamentary committee meeting.

Liberals and Christian Democrats left the commission session, opposing especially the apologetic part of the proposal. When the deputies of these two parties left the session, the required majority for voting could not be achieved.

The 128-point proposal prepared for Belgium to confront its colonial past, to declare a day of commemoration and colonial past year, to erect monuments for victims of the colonial past, especially to "black people who are exhibited to the public as if they are exhibited in a zoo", to scan and classify archives, and to provide scholarships for studies on this subject. It included topics such as the creation of a national action plan against racism.

There is disagreement in the 7-party coalition government in Belgium on issues such as apology and compensation. Greens wants the apology. The Greens argue that this will not be legally binding and therefore will not open the way for financial compensation.