A/HRC/42/59/Add.1 2019. Attainment targets for grade 2 will be implemented in 2021, and for grade 3 in 2023. These targets are being developed on the basis of 16 key competences, including historical awareness and civic competences. These involve a specific focus on human rights with a historical perspective, colonization, decolonization and neocolonization, democracy, enslavement and crimes against humanity. Specific attention is also being paid to democracy, human rights and the prevention of all forms of discrimination. Materials prepared by the Council of Europe – in particular under its Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture – were integrated into the learning outcomes as they were drafted. The concrete goals or learning outcomes for the curriculum reform will eventually be audited by the Education Inspectorate on a regular basis. The Working Group advises that ongoing assessment and audits should be used to ascertain whether teaching is leading to uneven learning or to maintaining a colonial lens in a pedagogical sense. Further, the Government should build on relevant initiatives such as the European Parliament’s resolution of 26 March 2019 on the fundamental rights of people of African descent in Europe (2018/2899(RSP)). 29. The Government informed the Working Group that teachers in Flemish schools have individual discretion to work on remembrance education, which is aimed at helping pupils gain insight into the economic, political, social and cultural determinants of the Belgian historical context. With regard to human rights education and fighting discrimination, schools are encouraged to cooperate with organizations, museums and sociocultural institutions that reinforce civic and historical awareness, for example the Royal Museum for Central Africa, the King Baudouin Foundation and Kleur Bekennen. The latter two organizations receive subsidies from the Ministry of Education. There is also a Special Committee on Remembrance Education. Two key instruments were developed by the Special Committee to enhance the quality of remembrance education – the first known as the toetssteen, or touchstone, which provides a frame of reference that can be used both in education in general and in the field of remembrance education specifically. Several publications refer to this framework, and various institutions, museums and organizations integrate the touchstone in their operational work and use it as a guide for educational initiatives. The Special Committee’s second initiative involved the publication of a book called The Past Doesn’t End: Remembrance Education as Pedagogical Practice in 2017. The book brings together the many opportunities for remembrance education and sets forth the advice of historians, practitioners and instructors on how to pursue remembrance education institutionally. 30. The Working Group emphasized that remembrance education methodology did not go far enough. It encourages the Government to give a central role to the teaching of history, in particular the colonization of the Congo by Belgium and the role that formerly colonized people and people of African descent play in the development of Belgian society. 31. The Flemish Government’s attainment targets act as minimum standards for the knowledge, competences and attitudes that pupils must have adopted by a certain age. These targets are further developed and implemented by educational networks, schools and teachers, with the help of pedagogical advisors, and the Education Inspectorate monitors compliance and quality. The Government notes that, in the French Community, the teaching of European colonization, and more specifically of Belgian colonization, is enshrined directly in history curricula in secondary education. This theme is also covered in textbooks for teachers. However, the Working Group heard serious concerns raised by people of African descent in both communities as to the manner in which the colonial history of Belgium, the contributions made by people of African descent to Belgian society and the truth about past atrocities have been mischaracterized, rationalized, overlooked or entirely omitted from educational curricula. 32. The Working Group noted with concern the public monuments and memorials dedicated to King Leopold II and to Force Publique officers, given their complicity in atrocities in Africa. The Working Group is of the view that, if this dark chapter in the country’s history is to be closed and reconciliation and healing are to be achieved, Belgians should finally confront and acknowledge the role of King Leopold II and of Belgium in colonization, and its long-term impact on Belgium and Africa. In this context, the Working Group supports consideration of the proposed memorial initiative to establish the facts and 8