Belgium - December 2024

On 2 December, the Brussels Court of Appeal ordered the Belgian government to pay reparations to five mixed-race women born to Congolese mothers and Belgian fathers, who were forcibly taken from their families during colonial rule in then-Belgian Congo. The Court ruled that the government had a deliberate policy to "systematically search for and remove" such children, declaring the actions a crime against humanity and "an inhumane act of persecution. Now in their 70s, the women were forcibly separated from their mothers as children and placed in orphanages under a state policy. They claimed the abductions were racially motivated. This landmark case, the first in Europe, was brought before a Brussels civil court in 2021 but was dismissed, prompting the five women to file an appeal. In 2019, the Belgian government had formally apologized to approximately 20,000 victims of forced family separations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda.

Sources: Brussels Time, British Broadcasting Corporation, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International

On 1 December, a law came into effect that grants sex workers official employment contracts and labour rights. Belgium is the first country in the world to extend these rights to sex workers. The Federal Parliament passed the law in May with the aim of combatting the abuse and exploitation of sex workers. The law extends the labour rights that apply to all official employment to the sex work industry as well, ensuring sex workers the right to maternity leave, pensions, health insurance and unemployment benefits. Employers will also have to meet certain requirements to operate their business, such as instituting strict safety protocols, background checks and providing contraceptives. The extension of labour rights to the sex-industry aims to ensure that this work is not exploitative.

Sources: Brussels Times, Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie, British Broadcasting Corporation, Euronews, Chamber of Representatives