EDITORIAL:Belgian Church’s call to open archives should be commended and emulated

TheRoman Catholic Church has taken yet another step in owning up to its dark past and seeking forgiveness. This time it was through the Belgian Catholic Church. It apologised for forcefully uprooting children of mixed race from their families and putting them in special care centres run by the Church. Many of the children were mistreated and abused and live with the scars to this day. This practice took place in the then Belgian Congo that encompassed Rwanda, Burundi and the current Democratic Republic of Congo. The logic behind the treatment of the so-called “half castes” was that their continued presence among their families disturbed the established social order of racial segregation. In the late ‘50s, just as the country was about to gain independence, the children were taken to Belgium to be raised in foster families. Many of the children were completely cut off from their families and those surviving today are still trying to come to terms with their traumatic experience. In their apology, the Belgian bishops went a step further by calling on all Catholic institutions in Africa, Belgium and Rome to open up their archives. This is an unprecedented move by the traditionally secretive institution that is the guardian of many secrets of the colonial past. By gaining access to the archives, some of those still trying to trace their roots will at last have closure to more than half a century inhuman existence. This should be a wakeup call to many countries that meddled in the affairs of others and still hold secrets that could unlock the past. If people have nothing to hide, why do they still hold on to archives that have the answers to many unanswered questions?

Opinions

EDITORIAL:Belgian Church’s call to open archives should be commended and emulated