King Philippe expresses deep regret for Belgium’s colonial violence in Congo

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent a letter to King Felipe VI and Pope Francis asking for an apology for abuses against Indigenous peoples during the conquest. The request triggered a...

Prime Minister Charles Michel apologized on behalf of the Belgian state for separating mixed-race children from their Congolese mothers and placing many in institutions. The apology addressed a...

The Storting expanded the inquiry to include Forest Finns, broadening the historical record beyond Sámi and Kven/Norwegian Finn communities. The addition followed criticism that the original mandate...

The government agreed to move toward appointing a truth and reconciliation commission and to prepare its mandate in cooperation with the Sámi Parliament and Skolt Sámi Siida Council. This marked a...

The government appointed an inquiry into historical abuses and assimilation of Tornedalians, Kvens and Lantalaiset. It was tasked with documenting state policy and its consequences and proposing...

The Prime Minister’s Office established the project preparing the commission and its mandate. The process followed a Sámi Parliament initiative and required cooperation with Sámi representative...

The House of Representatives created a special commission to examine Belgium’s colonial history in Congo, Rwanda and Burundi and consider how to address its consequences. The commission became a forum...

Historian Benjamin Stora submitted a commissioned report to President Macron recommending symbolic measures, archives access and memorial actions on the Algerian War. It did not recommend a general...

Negotiators initialled a declaration recognizing the 1904–1908 genocide against Herero and Nama and expressing Germany’s intention to ask forgiveness. Several affected community leaders criticized the...

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas announced that Germany recognized the colonial atrocities in present-day Namibia as genocide and would ask Namibia and descendants for forgiveness. A €1.1 billion,...