African, Caribbean states back slavery reparations plan at Ghana meeting
Leaders backed a 19-point plan for apologies, restitution and a global reparations fund after a U.N. resolution gave the campaign new momentum.
- On Friday, African and Caribbean leaders gathered in Accra, Ghana, urging former slave-trading nations to issue apologies and reparations following a landmark U.N. resolution in March declaring slavery the gravest crime against humanity.
- The Next Steps conference in Accra issued a declaration calling on countries involved in the Atlantic slave trade to "offer full, formal and unconditional apologies" as a foundational step towards reconciliation and trust-building.
- Ghana President John Dramani Mahama told delegates from more than 80 countries that "recognition creates responsibility," noting about 12 million Africans were forcefully taken between the 16th and 19th centuries and enslaved on plantations.
- Organizers aim to shift the reparations debate from recognition to concrete measures, including potential requirements for compensation under international law, leveraging the moral authority of the recent international resolution.
- Global perspectives remain divided; a 2021 Pew Research Center survey found only three in 10 United States adults supported reparations for descendants of enslaved people.
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The call follows a UN resolution in which this trade was labeled "the gravest crime against humanity".
The BBC reported on the 20th that African and Caribbean nations demanded on the 19th (local time) official apologies and reparations from countries that benefited from the transatlantic slave trade. These demands were made in Ghana's capital to advance efforts for reparative justice.
Associated Press News
Ghana conference urges slave-trade nations to issue apologies and reparations
African and Caribbean leaders in Ghana are urging former slave-trading nations to issue apologies and reparations for the trafficking of enslaved Africans.
Following the adoption by the United Nations of a resolution recognizing slavery and the transatlantic trade as "the most serious crime against humanity" in March, African and Caribbean countries met in Ghana to make joint demands for reparations.
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- 37% of the sources lean Left, 37% of the sources are Center
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