Baku Initiative Group exposes crimes of Belgian monarchs Human zoos and racial humiliation

Facts documenting atrocities committed by colonial powers in occupied territories indicate that some of the most brutal crimes against humanity were carried out by Belgian monarchs, according to a study conducted by the Baku Initiative Group (BIG).

The study notes that Belgian colonialism has gone down in history as one of the darkest and most shameful examples, distinguished from other colonial models by unprecedented systematic brutality and practices of racial humiliation. One of the most notorious and disgraceful manifestations of this policy was the so-called “human zoos,” Caliber.Az reports per local media.

In 1897, on the personal initiative and order of King Leopold II, 267 people forcibly taken from the Congo were displayed as “living exhibits” at the World Exhibition in Tervuren, Brussels.

“They were put on display before spectators like animals, half-naked in the cold European climate behind wooden fences, with their dignity trampled upon. As a result of this barbaric exhibition, at least seven Congolese individuals, including children, died horrific deaths from pneumonia, influenza, and other diseases, and their bodies were secretly buried. This human zoo, created by Leopold II under the guise of a ‘civilising mission,’ became a symbol of blatant racial humiliation and genocide in the very heart of Europe,” the study says.

On the site in Tervuren where the human zoo was located, a permanent museum was later established. First the “Congo Museum,” and later the “Royal Museum for Central Africa,” functioned as centres for promoting colonial ideology. During the World Expo 58, held in Brussels in 1958, a similar display of people was repeated. This time, 598 individuals from the Congo—273 men, 128 women, and 197 children from 183 families—were once again exhibited to the European public as “living exhibits.”

Thus, the first “human zoo” organised in Tervuren in 1897 was not an isolated or temporary occurrence but rather a systematic, institutionalised, and long-term component of Belgian colonial policy. This practice, serving as a visual embodiment of the ideology of racial hierarchy and the so-called “civilising mission,” continued until the mid-20th century.

The study also cites evidence of the forcible removal to Belgium and subsequent adoption of approximately 20,000 children born to white fathers and Black mothers in Burundi, Congo, and Rwanda during the period of Belgian colonial rule from 1959 to 1962.

“The transfer of these children was carried out without parental consent and resulted in severe violations of their family ties, identity, and cultural affiliation. All these cases clearly demonstrate that Belgium’s colonial policy was systematically based on racist approaches, human rights violations, and the degradation of human dignity,” the study concludes.

By Khagan Isayev