Congo Reform Association

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The Congo Reform Association (CR A) was founded by Edmund Dene Morel , Roger Casement and Henry Grattan Guinness to expose the crimes against the Congolese people during the private rule of Leopold II , King of the Belgians . So it is one of the first human rights organizations.

The Congolese population was forced to mine rubber in huge quantities between 1888 and 1908 . As a guarantee, the wives of the men obliged to harvest rubber were taken hostage . If the workload was not fulfilled, the wives were killed, some also died from the conditions of detention. Photographs of people who were missing a hand (the right one) or a foot became known. The black guards of the rubber farmers had to show their white officers a right hand (of the allegedly shot person) for each bullet shot in order to prove that the ammunition received was not used for hunting or collected for a riot; However, often living right hand was chopped off - see main article Congo atrocities .

The Congo Reform Association received great public interest around the world, particularly in England and the United States. At the request of the CRA, Leopold II sent a commission to the Congo Free State to deal with the human rights violations. This, however, was extremely Leopoldian and glossed over everything in her report.

Achieved goals

In 1908 King Leopold II sold his private colony to the Belgian state under public pressure. This and the public interest can be attributed to the Congo Reform Association, especially founding member Edmund Dene Morel. Some famous authors also joined the protest against the inhumane colonial policy. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote The Crime of the Congo and Mark Twain wrote the satire King Leopold's Soliloquy (1905).

founder

  • Edmund Dene Morel - English journalist who dealt intensively with the colonial policy of Belgium
  • Roger Casement - British consul, appointed by England to oversee Belgium's colonial policy
  • Henry Guinness