For the first time, on October 31, the Baku Initiative Group will host an international conference titled “Belgian Colonialism: Recognition and Responsibility,” focusing on Belgium’s colonial legacy and its enduring consequences.
The event will bring together representatives from Belgium’s former colonies — the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi — alongside diplomats, government officials, historians, international law experts, researchers, civil society activists, and reparations specialists from eight countries.
Participants will examine the crimes committed by Belgium in Africa — including ethnic segregation policies, mass killings, cultural plundering, and other atrocities carried out in its colonies — as well as the ongoing social, political, and economic repercussions of Belgian colonialism.
Discussions will also address Belgium’s neocolonial practices, such as the continued exploitation of resources in its former colonies, and will explore ways to raise the issue of reparations and bring it onto the agenda of international organizations.
On October 30, a day before the main conference, international participants will visit Baku State University to meet with faculty and students for discussions and lectures under the theme “Belgian Colonialism in Central Africa and Its Lasting Consequences.”
It should be noted that a 2019 UN report by the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent documented that during Belgium’s colonial rule in the present-day DRC, Rwanda, and Burundi, around 10 million people were killed, tens of thousands mutilated, and ethnic divisions institutionalized. The report also highlights the forced labor system, the abduction and assimilation of 20,000 mixed-race children, and the creation of conditions leading to genocides. It calls on Belgium to establish a truth commission, open its archives, and provide reparations.
The conference aims to shed light on these historical truths and contribute to a broader understanding of colonial injustice and its modern implications.
