The Story of The Stolen Children From The Island of Reunion By France
I recently came across an interesting video, and this story reminded me of how both Native American children and Australia’s indigenous children were treated horribly by their countries. The video highlighted the so-called relocation of children from the French-controlled island of Reunion to rural France for the purpose of rebuilding France’s rural areas. This relocation occurred between the early 1960s and the early 1980s. During these two decades, over 2000 children were removed from Reunion.
The children, who are now in their 50s or 60s, demand justice for the heartbreak they endured during the relocations by the French government nearly 60 years ago. They want the French government to acknowledge that its actions were actually crimes against children, not simply a relocation. These survivors also want financial compensation for the suffering they endured because of the crimes.
What’s terrible about this crime is how the French government lied to the parents of the stolen children. The children were promised better educational opportunities and long-term success for themselves. But this didn’t happen. Instead, many of the children worked as servants for more well-off families in France while others worked on farms throughout rural France. Some of the children later took their own lives as adults…
